The State Agency for Reconstruction has not yet determined the capacity of the water supply for Mykolaiv: «We are waiting for the calculations of the RMA»

Mykolaiv, archive photo NikVesti

The State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development is waiting for official calculations from the regional military administration to determine the capacity of the new water supply system for Mykolaiv.

This is discussed in the article NikVesti «Three years without drinking water: what will the future water supply be like for Mykolaiv?».

Initially, the water supply was planned to be built with a capacity of 160 thousand cubic meters per day. However, later the head of the State Agency for Reconstruction talked about the possibility of reducing this figure to 100 thousand cubic meters, based on the city's current water consumption.

Currently, the residents of Mykolaiv consume from 75 to 108 thousand cubic meters of centralized technical water per day. But in the future, water consumption may be higher, because today there are no large enterprises operating in the city, and the population is still lower than the pre-war level.

Therefore, the city authorities emphasize that the water supply should have a capacity of 160 thousand cubic meters. However, the head of the State Agency for Reconstruction, Serhii Sukhomlyn, expects to receive updated data on the future planned indicators of water consumption by the city, he said in a comment NikVesti.

«We have already had several meetings on this issue. The city of Mykolaiv itself, in letters about the required volume of water supply, notes that in the future the capacity of the treatment facilities that will be built will be 120 thousand cubic meters and is making an application for 160 thousand cubic meters.

We understand that the strategic plan from 2007 includes the development of the city of Mykolaiv and access to significantly higher consumption, but even by law the general plan must be revised every 6-7 years. It was not revised and after that there were many challenges such as Covid-19, war. Therefore, we would like to clarify,» said Serhii Sukhomlyn.

Head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development Serhiy Sukhomlyn at the Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine, June 11, 2024, photo NikVesti

Today, the State Development Agency is awaiting official calculations from the Mykolaiv RMA, after which a final decision will be made on what capacity the water supply system should be built.

«I think they will arrive in the near future, because they, together with the city of Mykolaiv, are the customer. If they confirm that 160 thousand cubic meters are needed, then the construction of the water pipeline will be designed for exactly 160 thousand cubic meters,» Serhii Sukhomlyn clarified.

Water supply for Mykolaiv

Almost three years have passed since Russian troops damaged the water main that supplied Mykolaiv with water. Since then, the city of almost half a million people has been left without a centralized supply of drinking water. Now, Mykolaiv residents receive water from a backup source, which raises many questions about the quality of such water and the salt content in its composition.

Salt water has damaged 1,200 kilometers of the city's water supply network. Director of Mykolaivvodokanal Borys Dudenko reported that it is impossible to replace the entire length of the network that was damaged by the supply of salt water. As of August 2024, only about 3 kilometers of the network had been replaced.

Salt water damaged pipes stored at the enterprise «Mykolaivvodokanal», August 2024, photo NikVesti

All this time, representatives of state and local authorities were looking for options for how to restore drinking water supply in Mykolaiv. The final solution was found in 2024: a new water pipeline would be laid from Nova Odesa, and the money was allocated from the state budget.

The regional restoration service has already selected contractors who will work on the design-build principle. They are three companies, each of which is responsible for one of the three work areas: Ukrtransmist, Rostdorstroy, and Avtostrada.

The future water supply system for Mykolaiv is promised to be built and launched by the fall of 2025, said Serhii Sukhomlyn, head of the State Agency for Reconstruction.

But the question of what the design capacity of the new water supply will be remains unresolved: on the one hand, there is an opinion that water consumption in Mykolaiv has decreased, and therefore a new calculation is needed, on the other hand, limiting the amount of water can directly affect the future development of the city and industry in it.

Back during a conference in Berlin in 2024, the First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksandr Korniienko, answering a question NikVesti, stated that the lack of drinking water in Mykolaiv is one of the biggest problems in Ukraine, which the state must solve in the near future.

And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed to build a new water supply system to provide Mykolaiv with drinking water «according to the quick version» — drinking water should be available by the summer of 2025. The government has already approved the relevant program.