Ukraine: Support to Ukrainian Water and Sanitation Utilities by the Dutch Drinking Water Sector

• Ukraine
• Ukraine - Vodocanals of Nikopol, Marganets, Pokrov, Kherson and Kramatorsk

Support to Ukrainian Water and Sanitation Utilities by the Dutch Drinking Water Sector

The Dutch drinking water companies, through the WaterWorX consortium (a program in which the 10 Dutch drinking water companies execute Water Operator Partnerships with foreign water companies), have been tasked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Netherlands to support 5 water companies (Vodocanals) in Ukraine in resuming and sustaining their drinking water and wastewater services.

The program has a duration of 1.5 years. Together with the Ukrainian water companies, short-term investments are implemented to restore infrastructure. Additionally, technical assistance is provided by Dutch drinking water experts, focusing on the development of medium-term investment plans.

Water & sanitation utilities in Ukraine are organized as executive organizations under public law (Vodocanals) or as municipal enterprises. They have been hit hard by the raging war, especially on the Eastern front. Most utilities were already vulnerable before the war (in comparison with water utilities in Eastern and Southern Europe) due to aged assets, outdated systems, and capacity constraints.

Before the war, access to centralized piped water supply in the country was estimated to be at 70% percent, and access to centralized wastewater collection and treatment services at around 50%; approximately 10 million people lack access to safely managed water services and 20 million people lack access to centralized wastewater collection and treatment services. The war exacerbated these problems and added huge challenges to supply Ukrainian citizens with affordable and safe water & sanitation services.- The Vodocanals are struggling to keep systems up and running with rising costs and dwindling revenues as a result of the displacement of people/ consumers and rising poverty levels.

In response to the evident needs on the ground, VEI  -with support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands- consulted the Association of Water Utilities in Ukraine ‘Ukrvodokanalekologia’ to discuss how the Dutch WaterWorX (WWX) partners could support prioritized Ukrainian utilities with additional funds under the WWX Programme.

Based on considerations of potential impact of the intervention, migration, and support/priorities, it was agreed to focus on 5 cities/towns: Nikopol, Marganets, Pokrov, Kherson and Kramatorsk.

For this 5 vodocanals there is an urgent need to financially support repairs to restore the water production, distribution and waste water treatment capacity, provide technical assistance in Operation & Maintenance of rehabilitated and/or newly developed assets and prepare climate-resilient investment plans to finance medium/longer-term capital investments.

For more information please contact:

Mariëlle Sprenger, Communications Manager
marielle.sprenger@vei.nl