WASH Cluster Ukraine Alert Bulletin 01-30 September 2016 Issue 2
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WASH Cluster Ukraine Alert Bulletin 01-30 September 2016 Issue 2 WASH Cluster Coordinator Mark Buttle [email protected] WASH Cluster IMOs Volodymyr Kalinin [email protected] Stas Dymkovskyy [email protected] Key facts Around 1,000,000 people had limited access to the safe drink- ing water due to incidents in September 2016. The area around Donetsk WTP was shelled at least 9 times since the start of 2016. At least big 3 settlements expe- rience problems with sewage WASH News (see map) system. From 26th September to 4th October 2016 the electricity company in Luhansk (LEO) cut off supplies to the Popasnyanskyi Vo- docanal (PVK) water company due to unpaid debts amounting to some UAH 112 million (approx. USD 4.5 million). As a result, PVK reported that water supplies for up to 1.2 million people across the ‘contact line’ were cut or severely curtailed. The defac- Issues to highlight to authorities in Luhansk announced an emergency situation. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced it is stepping in to pay some electricity bills, on an emergency Permanent solutions need basis, for a limited period only, to avoid water being cut off to people in eastern Ukraine, and LEO restored electricity supply to to be found to problems of PVK facilities. Now PVK has restored water supply to pre-crisis level, and that took about one week to achieve. historic debts. The WASH Cluster wishes to highlight that, while welcomed by all concerned, ICRC’s offer is not a sustainable solution to the problem, which need political solution between counterparts. Access to areas for repairs. Assuming the population of Luhansk NGCA was depleted by 20% as a result of the conflict, around one million people were ultimately affected overall, 90% of whom live in NGCA, and with 440,000 who needed assistance most urgently. Risk of damage through People affected were previously served by three water systems (different colours on map): shelling. The Carbonit system (pink) served by the Western Filter Station. Here people experienced the most extensive water short- ages: on the GCA side (Popasna, Zolote, Hirske) and NGCA (Pervomaisk, Stakhanov, Brianka, Kirovsk, Alchevsk and others). Luhansk water system (orange). In Luhansk city, some 350,000 people were moderately affected by a reduction in volume but some people received no water at all; others 3-4 hours per day, and some people in the centre had full water supply. Eastern water system (green). people are receiving some water (roughly 150,000 people) so they are affected by this crisis, but are not in the most dire need. During the crisis People in Need increased support for water trucking in GCA and NGCA during water shortages and ICRC also WASH Alerts since 2016 assisted with fuel. Water shortages 26 SHELLING INCIDENT (see photo) Water quality issue 2 Donetsk WTP was shelled on 14th September 2016: two shells fell into a horizontal sedimentation tank, one fell near other horizontal sedimentation tank, and one shell Access to sanitation 3 hit the reagents storage area. Windows, and parts of buildings were damaged. Em- ployees of Voda Donbassa were in the Filter Station during the period of shelling, and Environmental damage 1 were fortunately unharmed. Equipment is still operating and water is supplied to cus- tomers in normal mode. This incident highlights the risks that water company employ- ees face; that water production could be halted or affected if a critical component is hit; and that chemical reagents could be released into the environment at any time. .