Mykolaivvodokanal: 2 km of networks are upgraded every month in Mykolaiv

Construction of the new water main for Mykolaiv, 22 May 2025, photo: Darina Melnychuk, NikVesti

The municipal utility «Mykolaivvodokanal», together with its contractors, has already upgraded around 15 kilometres of water mains. Currently, the utility is replacing over two kilometres every month.

This was announced by the director of the municipal enterprise, Hennadii Iziumov, during a staff meeting on 4 August, according to NikVesti.

«We are carrying out roof repairs and restoring roofs at sewage pumping stations. We are also carrying out scheduled network replacements. To date, together with contractors, we have replaced almost 10 kilometres of pipes. We have replaced a further almost 5 kilometres using our own resources. In other words, we are currently replacing over 2 kilometres of pipes per month as part of our scheduled programme,» said Hennadii Iziumov.

Hennadii Iziumov, Director of the ‘Mykolaivvodokanal’ municipal enterprise, during a briefing. Photo: NikVesti

In addition, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, has instructed the municipal utilities to keep residents better informed about the reasons for roadworks and the pipe replacement works.

«This morning, a woman messaged me saying she couldn’t walk her dog because plastic pipes had been piled up outside her house. They’ve dug up the whole city. What on earth is going on? One person is delighted that the pipes are finally being replaced after 70 years, whilst another says the whole city has been dug up. That’s why you need to explain why you’ve dug up the city and exactly what’s being replaced there. You could at least report weekly on how many pipes have been laid during that time. People write to me: ‘When are you going to build a proper park? Why are you burying money in the ground?’ So tell people what you’re doing,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He also emphasised that utility services need to explain to residents their responsibility for replacing internal building networks. According to him, many residents still mistakenly believe that the replacement of risers and service pipes inside buildings should be carried out by the city.

He also instructed the Department of Housing and Communal Services to hold a meeting with representatives of property management companies to involve them in the city’s co-funding programme for the replacement of internal building networks.

It should be noted that residents of Mykolaiv are asking the municipal utility ‘Mykolaivvodokanal’ to restore the area to its original condition following repairs to the water mains at the junction of 1st Ekipazhna Street and 11th Voienna Street.

It should be noted that in June, the government reported that high-quality drinking water was flowing from taps in Mykolaiv. Therefore, following the commissioning of the water main, the «Mykolaivvodokanal» municipal utility is flushing the water supply networks. Throughout May, the company’s specialists flushed 70 kilometres of pipes in the city.

When was the new water treatment plant due to be launched?

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It had been promised that the new water treatment facilities for the centralised water supply in Mykolaiv would be commissioned as early as January 2026, but they were not due to become fully operational until later. They were built using funds saved during the construction of the new water pipeline.

Initially, the plan was to take out a loan from the EIB to fund the construction of the new water treatment facilities for Mykolaiv, with Denmark set to provide a further portion as a grant. The project was expected to take several years to complete and was intended to help supply the city with water meeting European standards.

However, Serhii Sukhomlyn, head of the State Agency for Reconstruction, later stated that this idea had been abandoned. It was decided to build the new water treatment facilities using state funds — those saved during the construction of the city’s new water pipeline.

However, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, supports the modernisation of the new water treatment facilities using a loan from the European Investment Bank, but believes that the state should repay it.

Read also the article by NikVesti entitled «When will Mykolaiv have drinking water on tap, and how much will it cost?».

The water pipeline for Mykolaiv: a brief history

It has been more than three years since Russian troops damaged the water pipeline that supplied Mykolaiv with water. Since then, the city of nearly half a million people has been left without a centralised supply of high-quality water.

Throughout this time, the people of Mykolaiv have been receiving water from a backup source, which raises many questions about the quality of this water and its salt content. The salt water has damaged 1,200 kilometres of the city’s water supply network. Borys Dudenko, director of «Mykolaivvodokanal», stated that it is impossible to replace the entire length of the network that was damaged by the influx of salt water.

For a long time, representatives of central and local government sought ways to restore the drinking water supply in Mykolaiv. A final decision was reached in 2024: a new water pipeline will be laid from Nova Odesa, with funding allocated from the state budget.

The regional reconstruction service even selected contractors who would work on a ‘design-build’ basis. These were three companies, each responsible for one of the three sections of the work: «Ukrtransmist», «Rostdorstroi» and «Avtostrada». However, both the client and the construction contractor were subsequently changed. The client for the construction of the new water main became the Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and the contractor was the «Avtostrada» group of companies.

The new water pipeline for Mykolaiv was commissioned on 7 October 2025 — it was connected to the water utility’s networks.

As early as November, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Vitalii Kim, stated that drinking water could be flowing from Mykolaiv residents’ taps within half a month to a month. That is precisely how long it will take to complete all work on the treatment plants and receive the official laboratory reports.