Director of water utility warns of deteriorating water quality in Mykolaiv

The water supply situation in Mykolaiv will remain critical over the next week. Despite widespread complaints from residents about the color and odor of tap water, the management of Mykolaivvodokanal warns that the quality of the water supply will not improve and may even get worse.

This became known during an open staff meeting of the mayor on Monday, March 2.

Due to the active snowmelt and rising temperatures, a significant decline in the quality of tap water has been recorded in Mykolaiv. As explained by the head of Mykolaivvodokanal Gennadiy Izyumov, the situation is caused by a significant discharge of water from the Oleksandrivske reservoir into the Southern Bug River. This resulted in the treatment plant receiving water with critical indicators: the inlet color reaches 76 degrees, while the norm is 20, and the turbidity exceeds the permissible limits by almost thirty times.

The main problem is the technical inadequacy of the existing facilities. The city's modern wastewater treatment facilities were once designed for Dnipro water, so the current coagulation units and sand filters are actually unable to cope with the specific composition of water from the Southern Bug. The company's management warns that the situation may remain unstable or even deteriorate over the next two weeks while the city's networks are flushed and the reservoirs are cleaned of silt in the spring.

The solution to the problem is seen in the launch of a new treatment unit, which is currently under construction. According to Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, citing the Recovery Agency, the main work should be completed by the end of March so that the system can start functioning in April. At the same time, the director of the water utility noted that the full commissioning of the facility and finalization of all processes will take a year and will be completed by the end of November. Until then, the quality of water in Mykolaiv's taps will depend on seasonal natural factors.

Катерина Глушко