Will Kyivʼs water supply and sewage system remain operational this winter? Who is to blame for outages: Klitschko or Zelensky? — the most detailed analysis of Babel (spoiler: Russia is to blame, but both of them contributed)

Water shutdowns have begun in Kyiv. Why is this happening?

In late September and early October, Kyiv began to experience problems with water supply. In some areas, there was no water at all (or it flowed in a thin stream from the tap), but it usually returned after a few hours.

“Kyivvodokanal” explained each time that this was due to interruptions in the power supply system. In order for water to reach houses through pipes, it must be pumped by pumps that run on electricity. Water pumping stations are not subject to stabilization outages, but they are not insured against emergency ones.

After Russian attacks on the power grid, the pumps could stop.

Although when there were no power outages, the water was still turned off. Whatʼs the point?

The “Kyivvodokanal” CEO Ihor Palamar explained to Babel that the point could also be voltage fluctuations:

“Even when power is formally available, its unstable parameters can lead to an automatic shutdown of the pumping equipment, since it cannot operate in such conditions.”

Do these pumps still not have backup power? In the 5th year of the Great War!

Ihor Palamar reported that during the previous years of the full-scale war, about 50% of the capitalʼs water supply system facilities were provided with backup power. In total, “Kyivvodokanal” has 103 generators with a capacity of 15 kW to 1 MW, but they are enough for relatively small facilities.

Key pumping stations are large consumers of electricity.

“They consume as much electricity as an entire city district,” explains the head of the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage at KNUBA Oleksandr Kravchenko.

Such facilities cannot be powered by conventional generators. Diesel power plants must be built for them, like, entire complexes consisting of several diesel engines, several alternators, a fuel supply system, and equipment for coordinating the operation of all elements.

Waterworks needs more than 50 MW of capacity from such power plants for key facilities — pumps, a treatment system, and water intake. The cost of the project is about UAH 2 billion.

According to Panteleyev, three 16 MW power plants have already been built. The rest are planned to be completed by the end of the year (but there are nuances — more on that later).

This is what diesel power plants look like, which have already been built for backup power supply of water utility facilities in Kyiv.

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Vitaliy Klitschko inspects the first three diesel power plants built for the water utility.

Telegram / Віталій Кличко

"Kyivvodokanal" facilities are equipped with over 100 generators. However, key pumping stations require more complex power systems.

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Why donʼt other cities have this problem?

Kyiv’s scale is not really working in its favor. Although, the problem exists in other large cities as well.

“The bigger the city, the more difficult it is to solve this issue,” explains the president of the Association of Ukrainian Water Utilities Dmytro Novytsky. For example, Odesa also suffers from water outages, as powerful pumping stations still do not have backup power (conventional generators are not enough for them). Lviv has installed about 100 generators for the water utility, but still needs 20-30 more powerful ones. Both cities plan to solve this issue with the help of international partners.

In Kharkiv, cogeneration units were installed on powerful water utility facilities.

“Kharkiv is probably half the size of Kyiv, so there is a little less dependence on generator power,” says Novytsky. In his opinion, Kyiv still “lost the time”, and “the Kyiv City State Administration and the central government should work together” on this issue.

The media writes that generators for the waterworks will only be installed in March. Is it true?

Journalists found 13 tenders on “Prozorro” that concern backup power sources for water supply and sewage pumping stations. The announcement does indeed indicate the completion date of the work — March 30, 2027.

According to Oleksandr Kharchenko, who is familiar with the implementation of the “Sustainability Plan” in Kyiv, these tenders are about the same diesel power plants for key pumps. The design documentation for them has already been made, the sites have been prepared, and the equipment has been ordered. The only thing that remains is to deliver and install it.

Now this process has stopped because the funds in the state treasury accounts have been frozen- it was confirmed to Babel by the deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration Petro Panteleyev.

In September, due to a hole in the state budget, the government suspended all capital expenditures. This also affected the funds of local communities (in particular, for preparations for winter).

“Undoubtedly, such suspensions (even forced ones) negatively affect the timing of project implementation,” says Klitschko’s deputy.

Nevertheless, they plan to launch these diesel power plants for the water utility by the end of the year, as promised earlier (both the Kyiv City State Administration and “Kyivvodokanal” assure Babel of this). The government has already unblocked payments for the implementation of sustainability plans, and Kyiv can pay for these works.

According to Kharchenko, it will take at least one and a half to two months from the date of payment to deliver, install, and launch the equipment. Although, there is still time until the end of the year.

If some of the pumps are powered by generators, why do we have to sit without water for several hours?

When all the planned 50 MW of backup power is installed, the situation will be better — the pumps will no longer be so dependent on emergency outages. But another problem will remain.

Pumping stations do not automatically switch to generators during power outages. Experts with whom Babel spoke stated that installing such automation is impossible in some cases, in others it is difficult and extremely expensive (and there is definitely no money for it now).

Therefore, the generators are started manually every time. Here is another problem — “Kyivvodokanal” lacks qualified people who can do this. One electrician can work for several pumping stations, and he needs time to go around all the facilities and turn on the backup power.

Even after the generator is turned on, the water does not immediately return to the taps. Because while the pumps are not working, the water flows down the pipes under the influence of gravity and returns to the reservoir at the nearest pumping station. So, after the power is restored, it takes time to fill the pipes again.

“Water flows out much faster than it then reaches the top. Therefore, stopping the pump even for one hour can lead to the fact that there will be no water in the houses for 5 or 6 hours,” explains Oleksandr Kravchenko.

Vitaliy Klitschko visited one of the "Kyivvodokanal" pumping stations, where generators are operating to power the pumps, October 2026.

One of the artesian water pumping stations in Kyiv.

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One of the water pumping stations that provides water supply to 10 residential areas in the capital.

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Why are there so few people at “Kyivvodokanal”? Let them hire more!

The shortage of personnel is a problem for water utilities across Ukraine.

“Emergency crews are at best half-staffed. We don’t have enough electricians, welders, or plumbers,” says the president of the Water Utility Association Novytsky.

There are two reasons for the shortage of people — water tariffs and mobilization. Everything is clear about mobilization. “Kyivvodokanal” has the right to reserve 75% of its employees, so some of the employees were drafted into the army. Letʼs dwell on the issue of tariffs in more detail.

“Kyivvodokanal” does not set tariffs independently. Until this year, in Kyiv and other large cities, this was done by the National Commission for State Regulation in the Energy and Utilities Sectors (NCSREUS) — based on calculations submitted by water utilities every year.

In 2023, NCSREUS wanted to raise the water tariff, but after criticism (including from Volodymyr Zelensky), this decision was canceled. Until 2026, tariffs for the population remained unchanged, while water utilitiesʼ expenses grew, as the cost of electricity, reagents, and other materials increased.

Tariffs for heating, gas and hot water were also not raised, but the state compensated suppliers for the difference between actual costs and the established tariff. No compensation mechanisms were provided for water supply.

“Waterworks have been operating at a loss throughout this period, starting in 2022,” says Novytsky. According to him, the industry has lost UAH 12 billion over these years.

“Can you imagine how much equipment could be updated and replaced? For example, install modern pumps that are not so energy-intensive,” he says.

Due to operating at a loss, water utilities could not keep salaries at market levels, and many specialists were fired. So if now only one electrician in the water utility services several generator sets, then part of the responsibility for this lies with the central government, which kept tariffs frozen for 4 years.

Now water tariffs have already begun to increase. In 2026, the Verkhovna Rada transferred the right to set tariffs to local self-government bodies. Now local councils must either make an unpopular decision and raise tariffs for the population, or compensate water utilities for the difference from their own budgets.

In Kyiv, they have decided to double the water tariff for now — from UAH 30.38 to UAH 63.79 per cubic meter (in fact, it should be even higher — the economically justified tariff is about 90 UAH per cubic meter).

What will happen to the water supply in Kyiv if there is no electricity?

Once all the planned diesel power plants are installed, Kharchenko estimates that about 60-70% of the city will not lose water during emergency power outages. This does not mean that the water supply will be uninterrupted, because electricians still need time to switch to backup power.

In addition, generators cannot operate continuously. Firstly, they need to be refueled. For example, one generator at a water treatment plant can consume up to 400 liters of diesel per hour. Secondly, they need to be stopped periodically for maintenance.

“On average, a generator can operate for about 60-80 hours without changing the oil and performing preventive maintenance,” says Kharchenko. Experts believe that this time should be enough to restore the main power source.

If there is no electricity in Kyiv (or it is critically low), the waterworks will direct resources to keep the water supply lines filled with water (after all, water flows out of the pipes faster than the pumps can push it back in). This is exactly the scheme described by the deputy director of “Kyivvodokanal” Serhiy Horkutsenko.

"If we completely release the water from the system, I think it could reach the most distant points of Kyiv for two or three days. That is, it would turn out like this: we had power outages for an hour, and the water was turned off for two days because everything was drained," explains Kravchenko.

This was the situation on November 23, 2022, after the massive shelling by the Russian Federation. Then a real blackout occurred in Ukraine, the single power system broke up into several independent islands, and the water supply also stopped. The integrity of the power system was restored the next day, but water did not return to houses for another day or two.

To prevent this from happening, the system can be kept full at all times. What does this mean for people? Water will come to the houses, but not rise to the upper floors.

“Somewhere on the first floor (or in the basement) of each house there is a place where the water is connected to the system. There you can open the tap and collect water in your container,” says Kravchenko.

If the pumping stations are given electricity for at least a few hours a day, then during these hours the pumps will work at full capacity, and water will be available for use in the apartments.

Can Russia destroy the water supply system of Kyiv?

Kyivʼs centralized water supply system consists of two water supply stations, 357 artesian wells, 78 pumping stations, and over 4 000 kilometers of pipes. This system was designed and built during the Cold War.

Novytsky explains that this is actually a disadvantage, because some lines have not been updated since then. Although, it is also an advantage, because they were designed for military risks, so they are quite stable and provide for a lot of duplication.

The easiest way to stop the water supply is to simply cut off the power to the pumps (and weʼve already discussed this scenario).

Destroying the system is quite difficult. The pipes are mostly underground. The pumping stations can be vulnerable to missile or drone strikes, but there are enough of them, and if one of them is damaged, water can be supplied from another.

Can pumping stations be protected from Russian attacks?

A pumping station is a building that houses equipment (pumps and other auxiliary equipment). Novytsky explains that protecting this structure completely — i.e., building a shelter over it — is difficult and not always advisable, since it can be more expensive than the equipment.

Therefore, waterworks do not protect the building itself, but individual elements — electrical equipment and pumps. Petro Panteleyev said (when we talked to him about preparing for winter, but without giving details) that in Kyiv, they also protect waterworks facilities.

“I know waterworks close to frontline areas that have protected some of the most vulnerable equipment with a second level of protection. In any case, we will not be able to protect them from a direct missile hit. Therefore, waterworks must have equipment, people, and ready-made solutions to quickly restore the damaged,” says Novytsky. According to him, there are such reserves in Kyiv, but “there needs to be more”.

What if something happens to the water intake?

Kyiv draws its water from three main sources: the Dnipro River (30%), the Desna River (60%), and artesian wells (10%). Water from the rivers is pumped to the “Dniprovska” and “Desnyanska” water supply stations, purified, and then fed into the system by pumps.

Water from artesian wells is purified as needed and also fed into the general network. Water from different sources can mix in the pipes.

So there are two water intakes in Kyiv: one on the Dnipro River, the other on the Desna River. These are huge concrete tanks connected to the riverbed. There are also pumps at the water supply stations — they pump water from the water intakes to the water treatment stations (from there, the pumps transport the water to the next station, and so on, until it reaches all the districts).

Theoretically, any object in the water supply system (including the water intake) could be destroyed. But experts call this scenario unlikely, since it is easier to "destroy or de-energize the pumping stations than to do anything with the water intakes".

Even if one of the water intakes is damaged, water can be taken from the other. After the Chornobyl tragedy in 1986, a system was created in Kyiv that allows switching the water supply between them.

In addition, there are 357 artesian wells in Kyiv (about half of them are operating at the same time, but all of them are ready to work). These wells mainly provide water to residents of Troieshchyna and Obolon. If necessary, they can work for other districts of the capital.

For comparison: Kyiv takes about 617 cubic meters of water from all three sources every day. The design capacity of the “Dniprovska” water supply station is 600 cubic meters, “Desnyanska” — 1 080 cubic meters, artesian wells — 388 cubic meters. So even if something happens to both river sources, the wells can provide the minimum needs of Kyiv.

“Water will flow into the system, although it may not be enough in total. I’m not sure whether all districts of Kyiv will be able to be covered by the wells,” Kravchenko explains.

Could Kyiv ran out of water?

Kyiv residents may indeed be left without water in their taps (this was actually confirmed by “Kyivvodokanal”), but they will not be left without water at all. If for some reason the waterworks is unable to supply even minimal amounts of water to houses, it will be possible to collect it from pump rooms on their own.

In total, there are over 170 pump room complexes in Kyiv, 155 of which have been prepared for connection to generators. Although there is one moment — in case of a power outage, generators will still need to be brought in and connected. The Kyiv City State Administration did not specify how long this might take.

As a last resort, Kyiv is considering the option of transporting water in water tank trucks. “Kyivvodokanal” states they plan to organize 14 points for filling drinking water. Then the trucks will be delivered to the locations by district administration vehicles.

Residents will be able to fill their bottles with water from the trucks.

How to douse fires [then]?

An unobvious consequence of the lack of water is problems with firefighting. The State Emergency Service should have strategy for such cases.

“We are calculating all the risks,” the service’s spokesman Oleksandr Khorunzhy confirmed to Babel, but did not want to go into details.

Okay, we wonʼt be left without water. What about sewage?

The situation with sewage is more complicated than with water supply. It will not be possible to deploy an alternative system so easily.

“[If] there will be no sewage system, in 3 days we will have an epidemiological catastrophe, because no one will stop using it,” said the Deputy Director of “Kyivvodokanal” Horkutsenko.

Letʼs look at how the sewerage system in Kyiv works. It has two parts — gravity and pressure. First, wastewater from buildings flows down by gravity to collectors and reaches pumping stations through them. At this stage, electricity is not needed, everything works under the influence of gravity, and for this purpose, pipes go down at a slope. Then, the wastewater accumulates for some time in special tanks at pumping stations. When the tank is filled, a pump is turned on, which transports the wastewater further — to the next pumping station or the Bortnychi Aeration Station (there, wastewater is cleaned and discharged into the Dnipro River).

This is the pressure part. At this stage, electricity is needed, and precisely at the moment when the tank is full and needs to be pumped. Otherwise, the sewage level may rise, and sewage will start to come out through the manholes or flood the basements and lower floors of buildings.

To prevent this from happening, 75% of sewage pumps in Kyiv have already been equipped with generators. “Kyivvodokanal” assures that the sewage system will operate uninterruptedly and independently of electricity.

“Some areas connected to the Kyiv sewage system still need efforts. Mostly these are either suburban lines or the outskirts of the city,” Kharchenko clarifies.

But if it takes time to start the generators, wonʼt the wastewater have time to flow out?

Sewage at pumping stations can accumulate for 4-8 hours — it depends on the area and the station.

“The problem is that no one knows when an emergency power outage will occur. It can happen when the tank was empty, then you have 4-5 hours to power the pumps. Or it can be that the tank just filled up and was about to be pumped out,” says Kravchenko.

If the tank is already full, the waterworks simply turns off the centralized water supply to avoid accidents. This is standard practice. People can still use the toilets and collected water without restrictions. Without centralized water supply, the volume of wastewater drops significantly, and the risk of overflowing collectors is minimal.

By the way, we had to do it this year. On October 8, residents of the suburbs of Kyiv (in particular in Borshchahivka, Vyshhorod, and Vyshneve) had their water turned off just to prevent the intercepting sewers of “Kyivvodokanal” from overflowing. As soon as the sewage pumps started working again, the water supply was restored. It took about two hours.

Could Russia damage the sewer system in Kyiv?

Oleksandr Kravchenko explains that the intercepting sewers and some of the sewage pumps are located underground or buried, so it is difficult to damage them. If one of the pumps at the station fails, a backup one can be turned on.

“In case of an accident, they always have one (or even two, and sometimes even three) backup pumps, which are automatically or quickly switched by the operator,” he says.

If for some reason the sewage system stops, in Kyiv they will simply turn off the water in the taps. Then water consumption drops tenfold, and the tanks at the pumping stations will be able to receive wastewater for much longer.

“You can fulfill all your needs: go to the toilet, flush, and so on. In this mode, wastewater can accumulate for days or weeks (depending on the situation). But in Kyiv, no one will seriously deploy a system of dry closets, because according to the standards, there must be one toilet for 20-50 people. Installing such a number for 3 million people is unreal. Therefore, we will use the sewer,” says Kravchenko.

There is another extreme measure that can be resorted to if the sewage system cannot be quickly fixed:

"From many districts of Kyiv, it is possible to accidentally discharge wastewater directly into the Dnipro River without treatment. Obviously, that there will be consequences for the environment, but it may have to be done," the expert adds.

What about the Bortnychi Aeration Station? In case the Russians will decide to destroy it

The Bortnychi Aeration Station purifies wastewater from all of Kyiv and its suburbs. It has a total area of about 300 hectares. It is almost impossible to completely destroy it. In addition, the station consists of three independent treatment lines. In case of damage to one, the others can receive wastewater.

“Perhaps the oldest [line], which is not in very good condition, will not fully cover the needs of Kyiv, but the other two actually should,” Kravchenko believes.

Although, in case of a complete shutdown of the station (what experts consider unlikely) the danger will remain only ecological.

"The only problem will be that untreated wastewater will enter the Dnipro River. In case of accidents, the station has backup discharges. Of course, the ecological situation will deteriorate. Although, any living river — and the Dnipro River, fortunately, is still alive living one — has a certain reserve to process this untreated wastewater."

The Bortnychi Aeration Station treats wastewater from Kyiv and its suburbs (Vyshhorod, Irpin, Vyshneve, Bortnychi, Chabany, Kotsiubynske, Sofiivska Borshchahivka, Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, Hatne).

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The Bortnychi Aeration Station has a total area of about 300 hectares.

I live in Kyiv. How do I prepare?

Temporary water outages may occur even when the city installs all backup power to the pumps. We have no guarantee from longer-term problems either, so it is important to do the following:

• to have supplies of drinking and technical water (3 liters of drinking water and 10-12 liters of technical water per adult per day). The Kyiv City State Administration advises to stock up on at least 3 daysʼ worth of water;
• to see where the nearest pump room is located. The map is here. The complexes that will be connected to the generator are marked in purple. The water in the pump rooms is suitable for drinking, but is not always additionally disinfected with chlorine. If it is not disinfected (and you can read about this on the information plate), it is better to boil it.