The issue of water security of the state has been considered at the NSDC Staff

Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Solovyov held a regular meeting of the working group on water security of the state and providing the population with quality drinking water in the settlements of Ukraine.

Representatives of ministries and agencies, research institutions, specialists of the NSDC Staff considered the state of surface water bodies and forecast indicators of surface water resources for the population and industries of Ukraine during the current year, the state and problems of modernization of drinking water supply and centralized drainage systems, as well as the condition of state accounting of artesian wells, their arrangement through measuring the volume of extracted groundwater.

It was noticed that as of mid-June, the hydrological situation on the vast majority of rivers in Ukraine has improved, and its further development will depend on the rainfall regime and their amount. However, given the long-term trends, there remains a probability of low water levels in summer-autumn with possible negative consequences for various sectors of the economy, population, and environment.

The participants discussed the need to intensify measures to restore and replace damaged water supply and sewerage systems, introduce new technologies, reconstruct drinking water cleaning facilities, restore wastewater treatment facilities, re-equip automated process control systems, introduce new laboratory equipment, etc. Another important issue is the harmonization of certain indicators of drinking water quality with EU legislation.

Among other things, the participants stressed the need to improve the legal framework to prevent water pollution.

“The state should ensure a high level of drinking water quality”,  - Mr. Solovyov stressed.

During the meeting, the participants also discussed the time frame for the commissioning of the State Register of Artesian Wells and its initial filling. Simultaneously with the filling of this register, information on the geospatial location of such wells will be uploaded to an interactive map and synchronized with the public cadastral map of Ukraine. Their inventory and accounting will allow using this information to identify potential sources of water supply to the population when planning the development of regions.

Acting Chairman of the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine Mykhailo Khorev, Director of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute Volodymyr Osadchy, President of the Ukrainian Association of water supply and sanitation sector “UKRVODOKANALEKOLOGIYA” Dmytro Novytsky, Deputy Head of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine Roman Saramaha and Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development Anna Kovalenko participated in the meeting.