Sienkevych promised that, as early as May, drinking water would flow from the taps of Mykolaiv residents «on the President’s initiative»

Mykolaiv could have drinking water from the tap by May, Oleksandr Sienkevych. Photo: NikVesti archive

Mykolaiv residents may be able to get drinking water from their taps as early as May, but for now the city is waiting for work on the treatment plants to be completed.

This was announced by the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, in a comment to Novyny.LIVE.

According to him, the water in the city is currently still non-potable, and the supply of drinking water is being implemented as part of a project initiated at the national level.

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«The water is still for industrial use. We are awaiting the launch of drinking water under the President’s initiative, which is currently being implemented by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development and the Recovery Agency. And I hope that in the near future, as we were promised, clean water will flow, and the people of Mykolaiv will finally be able to drink tap water after four years of war,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

The mayor explained that the delay in the launch is linked to the technical characteristics of the new water pipeline and the change in the water source. Whereas Mykolaiv previously received water from the Dnipro, it now comes from the Southern Bug, which has a higher salinity.

«Well, indeed, technical problems. First of all, it’s amazing that, in such a short time, they’ve built a new water pipeline from a new source, and are now finishing the filtration plant because the water parameters have changed. We used to drink water from the Dnipro. Today we have salty water from the Southern Bug. The salt level has already dropped, but the water is not yet sufficiently filtered to be called drinkable, even under wartime conditions,» noted Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He also added that work to upgrade the city’s water supply networks is continuing in parallel. According to the mayor, the pipes are being replaced with support from the Danish government and the NEFCO fund, and the repair work could take years to complete.

In addition, Mykolaiv City Council is in talks with the European Investment Bank regarding the construction of additional filtration plants.

«We are working with the European Investment Bank to build additional filtration plants so that any water, even salt water, can be treated into drinking water. This is a major and long-term project. I hope the Ministry of Finance will approve it, and we will start work in the near future,» explained the mayor.

When asked by a journalist to clarify whether this meant that Mykolaiv residents would be able to drink tap water as early as May, Oleksandr Sienkevych replied that he expected the facility to be commissioned once the construction of the treatment works was complete.

«You know, I receive information in the same way as you do, and as Vitalii Kim does — from the Ministry. But we have been informed that in May these treatment facilities will finally be launched and transferred to the balance sheet of «Mykolaivvodokanal». We can see that this seems to be true — the construction of these facilities is being finalised. Well, actually, we’re all waiting together, because we have the same water. We don’t have a separate water supply of treated water from the Dnipro,» he said.

At the same time, the mayor noted that even after the launch, people will likely be advised to boil the water.

«It is probably advisable to boil it, but in any case it will be drinkable,» he concluded.

Read also the article by NikVesti «The state is building new treatment plants, while Mykolaiv insists on modernising them with an EIB loan: what the city stands to gain from this».

When will the new water treatment plants start operating?

The launch of the new water treatment facilities to supply centralised water to Mykolaiv was promised as early as January 2026, but they were planned to be fully operational later. They were built using funds saved during the construction of the new water pipeline.

Initially, the plan was to take out an EIB loan to build the new water treatment facilities for Mykolaiv, with Denmark providing the remainder 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, Mykolaiv’s mayor, 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 pay for it.

Read also the article by NikVesti «When will Mykolaiv get drinking water from the taps 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.

All this time, the people of Mykolaiv have been receiving water from a backup source, which raises many questions about the quality of such water and the salt content in it. 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 damaged by the influx of salt water.

For a long time, representatives of the state and local authorities sought options for restoring the drinking water supply in Mykolaiv. A final decision was reached in 2024: a new water pipeline will be laid from Nova Odesa, and funding has been allocated from the state budget.

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

The new water pipeline for Mykolaiv was commissioned on 7 October 2025 — it was connected to the water supply network.

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