Candidate status in the EU: what should be the communal sphere in Ukraine
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The critical wear and tear of the infrastructure of communal heating and water supply and sewerage of Ukraine requires systemic transformations.
This one is important the block of problems should be in the center of attention of the authorities and civil society, because the restoration of the communal sphere is a kind of marker of the European integration progress of Ukraine.
The strategic direction is the EU
On June 23, 2022, Ukraine received the status of a candidate for EU membership. Currently, seven recommendations of the European Commission, necessary for further accession, are still being implemented.
All these events were preceded by the signing of the “Ukraine-EU Association Agreement”. So now Ukraine is obliged to implement 6 EU Water Directives on water quality and water resources management.
Important and urgent problems of compliance with European standards, improvement of the quality of drinking water and formation of a modern water policy appeared on the agenda of Ukraine. However, we will focus our attention on three Directives, which, in our opinion, apply to all citizens of our country without exception.
Council Directive 98/83/EC of November 3, 1998 “On the quality of water intended for human consumption” occupies a prominent place in this list.
It establishes the necessary standards for water intended for human consumption – standardization involves the control of 48 microbiological and chemical indicators.
The majority of domestic water supply and sewage enterprises (and independent experts claim that all water utilities without exception) are currently unable to ensure the fulfillment of these requirements.
Ukraine also undertook to improve the systems of urban wastewater treatment and ensure the implementation of the requirements of the Council Directive 91/271/EEC “On the treatment of urban wastewater” dated May 21, 1991.
In particular, it was planned to implement investment projects for the reconstruction of existing and construction of new treatment facilities by 2030 and, as a result, to reduce the total volume of polluted wastewater discharges to 279 million cubic meters (or no more than 5 percent of the total volume of wastewater).
By 2050, Ukraine plans to gradually introduce an additional third stage of treatment – biological and chemical removal of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds – at urban sewage treatment plants in cities with a population of more than 500,000 people.
Prospective plans also include the development of preliminary (local) treatment systems at economic entities, the introduction of biogas plants in the process of cleaning urban and industrial wastewater, as well as waste produced by agricultural enterprises.
The implementation of this Directive is an extremely expensive process. Back in 2010, the Danish consulting company “COWI” determined that the investment costs for secondary treatment of urban wastewater for settlements with 100,000 or more citizens would amount to 115 euros per person.
138 euros per inhabitant will have to be spent on tertiary phosphorus removal in such settlements.
We note that the previous schedule for achieving the goals of this Directive, which was calculated for 8 years, was not fulfilled in all respects and, in view of the large-scale and long-lasting war, was postponed indefinitely.
The general conclusions regarding the implementation of the EU environmental Directives into Ukrainian legislation are also disappointing: a significant part of the key measures that were planned to be implemented by 2017 have not been completed.
For the sake of objectivity, it is worth mentioning a positive legal decision that will contribute to the implementation of the requirements of Council Directive 91/271/EEC: on August 7, 2023, the Law “On Drainage and Wastewater Treatment” came into force.
This Law is designed to provide citizens with high-quality centralized and non-centralized drainage services, and at the same time reduce the negative impact of wastewater on the environment.
Council Directive 91/676/EEC of December 12, 1991 “On the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources” is one of the effective tools for preventing pollution of groundwater and surface water from agricultural activities.
The appearance of this document is due to an obvious fact – agricultural producers are one of the largest water users, and the quality of ground and surface water significantly depends on the consequences of their activities.
The statistics of water consumption by livestock farms and poultry farms are more telling than any words. Thus, in 2015, the average poultry farm consumed 2 million cubic meters of water – in terms of volume, this is commensurate with the use of water by a mining and beneficiation plant.
It is obvious that such colossal water consumption is associated with the most dangerous environmental threats.
The solution to this problem is possible under the condition of the implementation of regulatory legislation, which will provide for mandatory cleaning of industrial effluents at local treatment facilities.
Such equipment is already successfully produced and ready to be supplied by domestic enterprises.
The use of local water treatment facilities allows you to create “green” agricultural complexes with closed water consumption systems, to introduce circulating water supply and centralized drainage, to reuse purified and rainwater for technical needs.
From ascertaining the negative – to clean water and decent social conditions
A significant part of the domestic water supply and sewage facilities today resemble a ruin.
Of the 122,000 kilometers of pipeline networks of centralized water supply, almost 40 percent are worn out and in a state of emergency. They are the primary cause of secondary pollution of drinking water and its non-compliance with regulations.
These problems are exacerbated by outdated methods of preparing drinking water, as well as the technical inability of treatment facilities to restore urban wastewater.
According to approximate estimates, almost 1,000 sewage treatment plants (STPs) are currently in operation in Ukraine. Most of them were designed and built in the 60s of the last century, so they need immediate reconstruction.
On almost all KOS, the problems are the same or very similar, and they are caused by them
biogas corrosion, energy-consuming equipment and outdated sewage treatment technologies.
But today it is still possible to carry out phased reconstruction of many sewage treatment plants with the replacement of structural elements that outdated or destroyed by corrosion. It will cost much less than the construction of new facilities.
To extend the service life of emergency reinforced concrete collectors, the renovation (sanitation) of networks using the technology of pulling/pushing pipes made of polymer materials is almost the only economically feasible way.
Of course, these steps require raising funds. Instead, socially responsible companies and enterprises can influence the quality of “own-produced” wastewater at a much lower cost – you only need to take care of installing local treatment facilities.
As you know, the biggest polluters of water bodies are cities where more than 500,000 people live. And there are mostly no wastewater treatment systems in cities with a population of up to 100,000 people, villages and rural settlements.
Every year, about 2 million tons of pollutants are discharged into water bodies with return water. And transboundary rivers carry these impurities to our European neighbors.
Ukrainian pre-war realities did not look too optimistic: 58th place in the world ranking of the quality of tap water. In terms of the amount of drinking water per capita, Ukraine ranks 125 out of 180 countries.
Due to outdated cleaning systems and technologies, worn out pipelines – it is not recommended to drink water from the tap in Ukraine – such information was made public by scientists who conducted a study commissioned by the World Bank.
In order to move from the establishment of negative facts to the next level, one should be guided by a simple and obvious thesis: for every problem there are tools for solving it. Now, more than ever before, Ukraine needs large-scale infrastructure construction and renovation of engineering networks.
Centralized heating: update and save
In 2011, Ukraine became a full member of the European Energy Community and undertook to implement the relevant decisions of the European Union on energy development.
In addition, in the long-term Strategy creation of the EU Energy Union, ambitious and mandatory goals have been defined for the participating countries. By 2030, greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 40%, and energy efficiency should increase by 27%.
The use of renewable energy sources in the energy structure of the European Union should be brought up to 27 percent.
The perspective planning of the EU is also focused on the transition to heating systems where fossil energy carriers are not used at all. On the agenda of the European Union – climate neutrality (economy with a zero level of harmful emissions) and the transition to renewable energy sources.
It is important that even in the conditions of war in Ukraine, the development of the Low-Carbon State Development Strategy until 2050 continues. Our country is trying to realize the ambitious goal of maximally decarbonizing the economy and achieving climate neutrality.
Ukraine must also stop the aging and degradation of the centralized heat supply system – it is necessary to modernize boiler houses, restore pipeline networks, reduce heat losses and increase the efficiency of centralized heat supply.
According to the Energy Map portal, the total length of heating networks, which have been in operation in our country for more than 25 years, at the beginning of 2020 was almost 9,346 km, of which 7,334 km of pipelines required reconstruction.
It is likely that even such statistics do not reflect the real state of affairs in the regions of the country. After all, the chaotic transition of citizens to individual heating, provoked by city officials, has reduced centralized heat generation by 45 percent over the past 15 years.
And such destruction of centralized heating in Ukraine can put an end to “green” energy, and will also complicate the use of local fuels (straw, sawdust, wood chips, etc.) and heat produced at waste incineration plants.
Instead, according to experts’ estimates, large-scale reconstruction of urban heat supply systems will reduce natural gas consumption in the country by 40-50%.
Large-scale Russian aggression also caused colossal economic losses and the destruction of critical infrastructure in Ukraine. It is likely that the situation will continue to deteriorate. Therefore, we will have to restore the destroyed and prepare promising projects.
Regarding reconstruction plans
It is expected that international financial institutions will join the large-scale post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and provide loans and grants for the restoration and development of communal heat supply, as well as water supply and drainage systems.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal recently said that the government will focus on three main aspects: rapid recovery, attraction of private investments and development of regions.
In order to be ready for such challenges, both the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and city mayors should prepare reconstruction plans in advance. They are needed today, and will be needed the day after our victory.
And they should become fundamental factors of systemic changes in the utility sector energy efficiency and environmentally friendly technologies that will help Ukraine to clearly and steadily pave the way for strategic European integration.
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