Attachments
Electricity company LEO again cuts off Petrovskyi pumps, which supply Luhansk city
On 5th December LEO, the main electricity company supplying Government Controlled Areas (GCA) of Luhansk Oblast, cut off power to Petrovskyi water intake, in Government Controlled Areas (GCA) of Luhansk oblast, due to non-payment of historic debts. PVK almost cleared debts since August 2016, thanks to payments made by DNZ (a company established following negotiations in Minsk, to enable payments of water bills from Non-Government Controlled Areas). However, historic debts still remain from before August 2016.
Petrovskyi water intake belongs to the Popasnyanskyi Vodakanal (PVK), the main water supplier to NGCA Luhansk oblast via several water systems, as well as some GCA areas. Petrovskyi intake serves two settlements in GCA Artema and Nyznhoteple and several settlements in NGCA, mainly Luhansk city. The overall number of people served is officially around 150, 000 people (pre-conflict number supplied by PVK) of the estimated 350,000 people in Luhansk city. However it should be noted that in 2017 Petrovskyi actually only supplies around 10% of the water needs of Luhansk city, as alternative sources (albeit of questionable sustainability and quality) have been opened. Water form Petrovskyi is diluted with other water sources to improve the overall water quality.
The most affected settlements are villages on the NGCA side, north of Luhansk city, which will now need alternative supplies: Obozne, Pryvitne, Stukalova Balka and Metallist (total population around 5, 000 people according to pre-conflict data). The WASH cluster is checking if Luhansk Voda is trucking sufficient water.
Only on 24 November, PVK previously restored water supply to Luhansk city, with LEO restoring power to Petrovskyi pumping station after two weeks of interruption. In those two weeks it seems Luhansk Voda organized water to be pumped in reverse from Luhansk city, and in the end only Pryvitne from NGCA side had difficulties in accessing trucked water.