Sustainable water supply for cities: Portfolio of solutions elaborated as part of Resilience Plans

On April 7, a meeting of the Coordination Center for the Implementation of Comprehensive Resilience Plans for Regions and Individual Cities was held, chaired by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

Oleksii Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territories Development, joined the meeting on behalf of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development.

The meeting focused on ensuring uninterrupted water supply and wastewater management as one of the fundamental elements of community resilience.

As part of the interagency group’s work, a comprehensive analysis was conducted of regional centers and large cities with populations exceeding 100,000 people. Key risks were assessed, including dependence on a single water source, infrastructure vulnerability, and the lack of backup operational scenarios for systems.

Based on the results, a portfolio of infrastructure solutions was developed, aimed at transitioning to a sustainable and redundant water supply model.

This includes, in particular:

• protection of water supply facilities;

• creation of backup water intake sources;

• development of autonomous water supply systems;

• looping of networks in large cities;

• modernizing equipment and reducing energy consumption;

• ensuring backup power supply for water utility facilities.

“Implementing this portfolio of solutions will ensure a sustainable water supply for over 9 million citizens of Ukraine.

It is critical for cities to have access to water under any circumstances and not to depend on a single source or a single system operation scenario. We are also working on establishing a network of mobile rapid-response water intake complexes that can be deployed as needed. In essence, this is the creation of a national emergency water supply reserve,” noted Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksii Kuleba.

Therefore, the main decisions must be finalized by the start of the 2026–2027 heating season.