It is impossible to connect all of Kyiv’s water supply facilities to generators during power cuts because their capacity requirements are too high. These facilities require the construction of dedicated power stations. This work has already begun and is planned to be completed by the end of the year: as things stand, 16 MW has already been secured specifically for water facilities, acting First Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Petro Panteleiev said on 5 November at a briefing.
According to him, in Obolonskyi district, where more than 300,000 people live, it is possible to provide backup supply using generators of up to 1 MW. But in other cases, the capacity of the facilities requires the construction of power stations — that is, creating separate infrastructure to supply them.
This system will be able to operate during outages, but it will not be able to replace the standard system.
After the strikes, the city experienced significant disruptions to water supply. However, thanks to preparatory work carried out in advance and the installation of more than 100 generators and 16 MW of power stations built specifically for water supply, it was possible to restore water to homes fairly quickly — from half a day to a day. To restore supply, hundreds of kilometres of pipes must be filled with water, and cascade pumps have to be running.
“A common question is: why can’t you just put in a generator — it’s so easy — and there will be water. The thing is that the capacity of most of Kyiv’s water supply and wastewater system is such that, roughly speaking, a generator can’t handle it,” he said.
Panteleiev recalled that Kyiv is part of Ukraine’s unified energy system, and everything that happens within it affects the city. After the strikes, the situation was difficult, but it has now been stabilised. Homes in Kyiv are continuing to be connected to heating.
“Work is continuing now in a systematic, planned way. There are no critical anomalies,” he said.
Connecting all buildings will take up to ten days; heating in homes began to be switched on on 2 November. Connections have started in all districts, but damage to networks may occur.
“As for the Left Bank, Troieshchyna — we are creating facilities that will be backup,” said the acting First Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration.
Regarding the construction of a backup heat supply network in Teremky, Panteleiev said the work is planned to be completed by the end of the year.
Panteleiev added that the energy sector is currently the main target of strikes, and there have already been attacks on those facilities that Kyiv built as part of the Resilience Plan.