Mitryasova, O. CHRONICLES OF THIRST: DOCUMENTING MYKOLAIV'S WATER SECURITY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN A WAR-AFFECTED CITY: Monograph. Mykolaiv: PMBSNU, 2026, 124 p.

CHRONICLES OF THIRST: DOCUMENTING MYKOLAIV'S WATER SECURITY CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS IN A WAR-AFFECTED CITY 1.5. FRESH WATER WITH A TASTE OF ANTICIPATION IN MYKOLAIV IN 2026 The period from 2022 to 2026 was the time of the most radical transformation of the city's critical infrastructure in the history of its existence. As of the beginning of 2026, the city is entering a new stage of overcoming the water crisis, which was caused by an act of man-made terrorism in April 2022, when the main water supply from the Dnipro River was destroyed. As a result, the city of half a million was forced to use salt water from the Buh estuary and then from the Inhulets for a long time, which led to large-scale chemical degradation of underground communications and put forward an unprecedented level of complexity for the community and the state: the construction of a new water supply system from scratch. Strategic change of water supply sources: from the Dnieper to the Southern Buh By the beginning of 2026, Mykolaiv has completely switched to a new model of water supply, which is based on diversification of sources and minimization of safety risks. Until 2022, the main source was the Dnipro River, but the vulnerability of the 73- kilometer water pipeline passing through the frontline territories forced the government and local authorities to look for alternatives. The main source of drinking water supply for the city is now officially identified as the Southern Buh River near the city of Nova Odesa. This transition was not just a logistical decision, it became a fundamental engineering reorientation. The Southern Buh River has a different hydrochemical composition compared to the Dnieper, which requires qualitatively different approaches to treatment. The Mykolaiv Water Pipeline project, implemented during 2024-2025, includes not only a pipeline, but also a whole ecosystem of structures, from water intake to modern filtration stations. The choice of the Southern Buh was dictated by the critical need to quickly restore fresh water supply, since the long-term use of salt water from the estuary, and then from the Inhulets River, made the damage to the city network irreversible. The use of the Southern Buh made it possible to create an autonomous system that does not depend on the state of the territories in the Kherson region that remain under the threat of shelling. Technical architecture and stability of the new water supply system At the beginning of 2026, the Mykolaiv water supply system is a unique engineering system for Ukraine with an extremely high level of automation and physical protection. The project worth UAH 6.3 billion was implemented with significant cost savings (the initial estimate was UAH 8.7 billion), and the saved UAH 2.4 billion was used to expand the capabilities of treatment systems. 63