The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with support from the European Union, has provided water trucks and water treatment facilities to five communities in Kherson Oblast and three communities in Dnipro Oblast that face persistent water crisis as a result of the Kakhovka dam disaster and ongoing attacks on critical infrastructure.

The UNDP in Ukraine supplied frontline communities in Kherson Oblast, including Beryslav, Mylivka, Tyahyn, Novooleksandrivka, and Novoraysk, with a water truck and a water treatment station.

In Dnipro Oblast, two water trucks and three treatment stations were allocated to Marhanets, while Nikopol received two water trucks. Additionally, the Chervonohryhorivska community in Dnipro Oblast was supplied with one water truck and two treatment stations.

Overall, UNDP has provided 10 water filtration stations and 10 water trucks, securing access to safe drinking water for over 95,000 residents in these communities. 

This marks the second handover of such equipment under a joint EU-UNDP initiative aimed at restoring access to drinking water for communities affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. In April 2024, with funding from the European Union, UNDP delivered 15 water trucks and 30 water filtering stations to 14 communities in the Dnipro region.

Each mobile filtering station consists of two modules and can filter over 5,000 liters of water per hour, with the capacity to purify even seawater. Equipped with solar panels, these stations can operate continuously, even during power outages.  

In order to secure access to drinking water for a larger number of residents, the water trucks, with a capacity of 10 cubic meters, will transport the purified water from additional sources to the rest of the settlements, particularly the remote ones.

Speaking at the ceremony marking the handover on September 16, Arturo Rodriguez Tonelli, Regional Programme Manager, at the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, emphasized that restoring access to the essential services in Ukraine is a priority for the European Union:

“Access to safe drinking water is a fundamental human right. By providing the second batch of modern water trucks and mobile water-filtering stations, we hope to restore access for over 95,000 residents of frontline communities who face danger every day.” 

“This equipment is a sustainable solution that can operate effectively in crises due to its mobility and solar-powered energy,” he added.

Roman Shakhmatenko, Team Leader of UNDP in Ukraine’s Energy and Environment Portfolio, underscored that UNDP continues to work on improving the resilience of the communities in the face of ongoing challenges: 

“Water trucks and water filtering stations are powerful resources for communities that lack centralized water supply, suffer from power outages, and face constant attacks on infrastructure,” said Shakhmatenko. “UNDP will continue to implement initiatives to restore access to critical services in Ukraine following the principles of sustainable recovery.”

Yurii Yandulskii, Deputy Head of the Dnipro Regional State Administration, thanked the partners for their support and emphasized the importance of the provided equipment:

“We felt the problem of water supply especially acutely after the Kakhovka dam destruction. We are very pleased that three communities in our region received water trucks and water filtering stations. This equipment is crucial for addressing the immediate need for potable water. I am grateful to our international partners for their comprehensive support.” 

Dmytro Butriy, Deputy Head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, emphasized the scale of the ecological disaster and the challenges that the region faces on its path to recovery:

“In the context of constant shelling, targeted attacks on the infrastructure, frequent power outages, and the severe consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station, this assistance is critically important to us”.

“Water trucks and mobile filtration stations offer a swift and effective solution to the water supply crisis, ensuring our communities have access to safe drinking water,” he added.

Background

As a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June 2023, the existence of over 80 settlements in southern Ukraine was put in danger. The draining of the reservoir has led to a severe shortage of centralized water supply, further exacerbated by subsequent Russian attacks on hydraulic infrastructure.

The disaster, as highlighted in the Ukrainian government and United Nations Post-Disaster Needs Assessment report, also resulted in the loss of additional water supply to the cooling reservoir at the Kryvyi Rih Thermal Power Plant (TPP), leading to a substantial decrease of 600 MW in its generating capacity.