Will Kyiv be flooded with sewage? What will happen to water and sewage due to Russian strikes

After the missile and drone attacks in the autumn of 2026, in addition to electricity, Kyiv residents also started losing water in their homes.

Statements from representatives of "Kyivvodokanal" added to the drama of the situation, saying that without electricity there would be no water in the city at all, and with non-functioning sewage, an epidemiological catastrophe could occur in Kyiv within three days.

What is the situation with water in Kyiv, how vulnerable is the water supply system of the Ukrainian capital, and is the city threatened by flooding with sewage?

Shelling and water disappearance

"Kyiv, how are you? Do you have light, water, heat?" — "Of all of the above, only Kyiv remains."

Memes have become a common response for Ukrainians to the stress of Russian shelling. On the afternoon of October 11, as a result of another Russian attack, a high-voltage power line in Kyiv was damaged. Water problems began in four districts of Kyiv, where hundreds of thousands of people live.

Utility workers were only able to restore water supply the next day.

Shelling, damage to energy facilities, power problems, and water outages — all occurred one after another in Kyiv six times during October-November 2026.

In some places, water disappeared immediately the day after repairs — due to new shelling and new damage.

One of the most powerful strikes by the Russian army was inflicted a week ago. On November 3, water disappeared throughout the entire capital simultaneously. On that day, Russian attacks de-energized Kyiv's main water supply facilities.

"The capital's water supply directly depends on the continuous operation of the energy system, because pumps are needed to lift, transport, and supply water," representatives of "Kyivvodokanal" told the BBC. They added that the cause of water interruptions was not only electricity outages but also voltage fluctuations.

Water supply and sewage systems are sensitive to such fluctuations. If the voltage in the network changes sharply, the pumps automatically shut down; otherwise, they may fail, enterprise specialists explain.

"A catastrophic shortage of people"

Starting generators at water utility facilities requires time and people.

"At least two electricians or two engineers are needed to start a generator at one pumping station. Since the system is complex, both sewage pumping stations and water pumping stations must be started simultaneously. It takes at least several hours," Oleksandr Serhiyenko, director of the research center "Institute of the City," told the BBC.

The Kyiv City State Administration and "Kyivvodokanal" say that there is a severe shortage of personnel in the capital's communal infrastructure.

"There is a catastrophic shortage of people in all areas; 'Kyivteploenergo' has 1500 vacancies. The situation is similar for every enterprise," says acting first deputy head of the administration Petro Panteleiev.

According to Serhiyenko's estimates, about 40% of "Kyivvodokanal" employees have left the company in recent years — a significant part were mobilized, while others left in search of better jobs and higher salaries.

Under all these conditions, water supply is restored as quickly as possible: sometimes in 12 hours, sometimes in 24, says Panteleiev.

"Kyiv's water supply system consists of hundreds of kilometers of networks that need to be filled with water, pressure must be established, the pressure must comply with norms, and the cascade system of pumps must start working," the official says.

According to him, it is also necessary to take into account that Russians use a tactic of repeated attacks, making it impossible to start repairs immediately, which further delays the water supply process.

"Kyiv is a large city. Water supply systems are centralized. This construction principle has remained since Soviet times," Panteleiev recently said at a briefing.

He then assured that the city authorities are working to ensure that the water supply system has backup power and can operate autonomously.

Will generators help?

If the water problem in Kyiv is due to the power supply to the pumps, can they be connected to generators so that the water does not disappear?

Kyiv officials say no. Generators are available, but they are not enough.

"The thing is that the capacity of most of the water supply is such that generators cannot handle it," explains Petro Panteleiev.

According to his estimates, "Kyivvodokanal" facilities consume 67 MW, while the total capacity of the enterprise's available generators is 11 MW.

As an exception, he cited the Obolon district of Kyiv, where 300,000 people live and where it is possible to provide backup power using generators with a capacity of up to 1 MW. This only takes an hour.

"There are no problems for a quick transition to backup power there. That's why Obolon district almost always has water," says Panteleiev.

For backup power for the water supply of other districts of Kyiv, a separate energy infrastructure needs to be created, says the deputy head of the city administration.

In Kyiv, diesel power plants with a capacity of 16 MW have already been built for water supply. The plan is to build another 40 MW. But this will not be soon.

Equipment for this has been purchased from various countries. Construction and network laying are still ahead.

The full completion of construction is expected by spring, said Igor Palamar, head of "Kyivvodokanal," at a meeting of the temporary investigative commission recently.

When he was asked if Kyiv residents would have water in January, he replied: "There will be water in any case... But in what volume it will be — we need to proceed from how ready we will be by that moment."

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says he cannot guarantee that at some point the capital will not lose electricity or face other problems.

"As long as air defense does not work effectively, we cannot guarantee anything," the mayor said in an interview with the BBC Ukrainian Service about Kyiv's readiness for winter.

What about the sewage system?

If the water supply system is so dependent on electricity and backup power, how can shelling and damage to energy infrastructure affect the sewage system? If there is no electricity for a long time, could sewage flood some areas of the city?

"Sewage is a network that needs backup power in a very small volume," Valeriy Pundik, chairman of the board of the association of co-owners of multi-apartment buildings in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district, told the BBC.

According to his data, in those places where power is needed, and there are not many of them, backup sources are installed, and they cope.

"Wastewater will be pumped out even in the worst-case scenarios," the expert believes.

"All these talks that sewage could overflow and come out onto the streets and boulevards are manipulation. People don't understand how the system works," says Oleksandr Serhiyenko from the "Institute of the City."

He describes Kyiv's sewage system as complex, branched, and protected — its length is about 3 thousand kilometers, and for the most part, it lies underground, meaning it cannot freeze, the specialist says.

Yard sewage networks are laid deeper than the soil freezing level. Wastewater has a positive temperature and is constantly moving — therefore, such networks cannot freeze, "Kyivvodokanal" explains.

However, in the basements of some houses, cases of frozen sewage were observed last winter.

Oleksandr, a plumber with many years of experience, spent many days and nights in Troieshchyna in January-February 2026, rescuing heating systems and sewage risers in basements.

"Pipes can freeze at a local level. Why did this happen? Doors, premises in the basements were open. My local residents and I insulated the sewage in many places, and it continued to work," says the plumber.

He considers Kyiv's sewage system reliable and does not believe in the possibility of the city being flooded with sewage.

"For example, there is a 25-story building. Waste flies down the pipes to the lower floors there. And in the basement, there are many turns. For nothing to get stuck, for the system to work, there must always be water pressure to flush everything away," says Oleksandr.

According to his forecasts, everything will be difficult with sewage in Kyiv only if there is no electricity or water for about a month somewhere.

Where does wastewater go?

After being discharged from the house, sewage enters the city's sewage system. Further, it passes through collectors of various diameters, which gradually merge into the main sewage collector leading to the Dnieper riverbank, explains Oleksandr Serhiyenko from the "Institute of the City."

To pump wastewater in Kyiv's complex terrain, the city has 32-34 pumping stations. In case of a power outage, all pumping stations — both those supplying water and those pumping out sewage — are equipped with backup power sources, the expert says.

Through underground pipes, sewage reaches the Dnieper riverbank. Six large-diameter pipes are laid on the riverbed, through which wastewater is directed to the Bortnytska Aeration Station on the left bank.

What could threaten the Bortnytska Station?

The Bortnytska Aeration Station is the only wastewater treatment system for Kyiv, as well as parts of cities and towns in the Kyiv region.

All wastewater, including industrial wastewater, is treated at the station.

The station itself has three treatment sections, each of which can receive 600,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day. The design capacity of the entire station is 1.8 million cubic meters per day.

According to station data, between 600,000 and 900,000 cubic meters of wastewater are received for treatment daily.

"Even the capacities of one section are enough to treat wastewater. And there are three of them. This means they back each other up. If one doesn't work, the second or third will be turned on," says Oleksandr Serhiyenko.

The BBC asked Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko whether such an important object for the city as the Bortnytska Aeration Station is sufficiently protected.

Klitschko replied that even a second level of protection does not guarantee full protection of objects from destruction as a result of a direct hit by missiles or drones.

"It protects equipment from fragments if an explosion occurred nearby, but there are no guarantees against a direct hit. Therefore, I emphasize once again: the work of air defense is extremely important," the mayor noted.

Sewage into the Dnieper?

Does Kyiv have an alternative if the Bortnytska Aeration Station completely stops receiving wastewater?

According to Oleksandr Serhiyenko from the "Institute of the City," in an extreme case, instead of the station, sewage could be directed directly into the Dnieper.

"I calculated that the Dnieper carries 118 million cubic meters of water daily through Kyiv. Kyiv's discharges per day are about 700 thousand cubic meters. This is approximately 0.6% of the water flow that passes Kyiv. I believe that this will not affect water quality. Especially since further on is the Kaniv Reservoir, and its volume is 2.5 billion cubic meters of water," says the expert.

In his opinion, the risk that Kyiv could be flooded with sewage is negligible. This is only possible if all substations are suddenly destroyed simultaneously and there is no electricity or fuel for a long time.

Plumber Oleksandr, who has worked for many years in one of the housing maintenance offices (ZhEKs) in Troieshchyna, says that a lot in the operation of the sewage system also depends on the residents themselves.

During a decade of work at the ZhEK, he had to retrieve all sorts of things from the sewage system — from diapers and sanitary pads to rags and bones.

"The main thing is for people to understand: nothing should be thrown into the toilet, because all of this then has to be repaired. Basements where the networks run should be kept warm. And if the water keeps flowing, everything will be fine," says Oleksandr.

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