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On the 24th of February the Institute for Rural Development (IRD) hosted a roundtable under the Replicable Methods of Improvement of Rural Water Supplies and Sanitation Project funded by the UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. The roundtable took place in the Big Conference Hall of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv).
Over 70 participants represented governmental agencies, including Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Health of Ukraine, experts, regional NGOs and rural advisory services, utility companies etc.
A key topic was successful project implementation in Fursy village (Bila Tserkva rayon, Kyiv oblast) and Velykoploske village (Velyka Mykhaylivka rayon, Odesa oblast) where rural communities were involved in watercourse decontamination (Fursy village) and quality potable water supply (Velykoploske village) activities.
Opening the session, Oleksandr Tsepko, Deputy IRD Director, informed the audience about another occurrence of poisoning in Odesa oblast as a result of use of substandard drinking water. “Such cases confirm the relevance and extent of this problem in rural communities. We should not only discuss the problem but also develop viable solutions and offer them to the public. The today’s presentation of the models, implemented in Kyiv and Odesa oblasts, is devoted to the current state of water resources and ways of its improvement in our country …”, he said.
Anatoliy Skrypnyk and Yuliya Denysyuk, leading specialists representing respectively Health and Environment Protection Ministries, expressed willingness to support such environmental initiatives in every possible way and described relevant national programmes.
Rebecca Humphrey, Project Manager (ADAS International), thanked all the project participants for their good work and stated that efficient approaches had been developed under the project for livelihood improvements in relevant rural communities and their active involvement in solving environmental issues at local level. Project achievements and lessons learned would be brought to the knowledge of the roundtable participants. Rebecca Humphrey also expressed her hope for similar projects to be initiated in other regions across Ukraine.
Mykola Fursenko, Furse Village Council Head, presented the results achieved in Kyiv oblast. He described the project implementation starting from the working group formation for the Kamyanka river clean-up activities and their funding from several sources, including UAH 200 thousand of UK DEFRA project funding, UAH 74 thousand allocated by the village council, and UAH130 thousand provided by local entrepreneurs. “Currently, the river water meets the Potable Water Standard, and, most important, the residents are aware of the improvements. They believe in what we are doing and help greatly”, he said.
The water supply project component implemented in Velykoploske village, Odesa oblast, was presented by Maria Osipova, Team Leader, Rural Development and Legal Unit (Odesa). She described the water supply problem in southern regions, in particular, in Odesa oblast. Some villages lack sweet water, others have to use polluted water from household wells. “We developed a model of sustainable quality water supply for the population and a plan of reducing groundwater contamination. Our plans have not been fulfilled 100%, but most part of the work has been completed. UAH 25 thousand has been raised from local enterprises, and information campaign has been carried out to attract residents’ money to pay for the water-pipe connection. Almost all the households are willing to pay and get connected to the water supply system. This is a key project achievement”.
The second part of the event was devoted to discussion of the project results and constraints encountered in the process of its implementation. Experts and practitioners analysed project advantages and disadvantages and agreed on its extension.
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