Water for a New Beginning: UNICEF Restores Water Networks for Families in Ukraine
UNICEF is supporting the restoration of water supply systems and helping ensure access to water, including for families forced to leave their homes because of the war. Among them is Oleksandra’s family, who have found refuge in the Mykolaiv region.
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Before the full-scale war, Oleksandra and her family lived in Skadovsk district, Kherson region. She and her husband worked in agriculture, growing grain crops. But the war changed everything.
“We lived under occupation for six months. We had no food at all because the shops were empty, and we were not allowed to leave the village to buy bread or grains. If a child fell ill, we could not even get to a hospital,” the woman recalls.
As soon as they had an opportunity to leave, the family fled. Their relatives were living in Domаnivka, Mykolaiv region, so Oleksandra, her husband and their two sons decided to move there. The couple managed to find work, and later the family was offered temporary accommodation in a modular settlement for internally displaced people (IDPs). It was there that their third son was born. He is now one year old.
“We received accommodation with all the necessary utilities. There is work here, and we have a land where we grow vegetables. The children have settled in, so we decided to stay,” Oleksandra says. “People helped us with clothes, kitchenware and whatever else they could. Everyone supported us in their own way.”
For Oleksandra and her family, Domаnivka became a place where, after a period of profound uncertainty, they could rebuild their daily lives and regain a sense of home. After everything they had been through, the things that once seemed ordinary became the most important: safety, their own space, the opportunity for their children to learn, and access to water.
Modernising water networks
Access to water is one of the most important conditions for a comfortable life. Yet for the Domаnivka community in southern Ukraine, water supply has remained a challenge for years because of ageing networks and wells running dry.
According to Viktor Vlasiuk, Head of the Domаnivka Settlement Council, more than 70 per cent of the community’s water pipes have been in service for over 50 years. Breakdowns were frequent, and during the summer, residents in some areas could go without water for weeks.
“We have always faced water shortages. We now rely on wells, but their capacity is insufficient, especially in summer. On top of that, ageing pipes lead to constant water losses. That is why upgrading the networks and ensuring a reliable water supply was so important for us,” Viktor explains.
Between 2024 and 2026, UNICEF, with support from the European Union and the Government of Denmark, provided the Domаnivka community with almost 50 kilometres of water pipes to replace worn-out sections of the network. This support is helping the community gradually modernise its ageing infrastructure, reduce water losses and ensure a more reliable water supply. Of these, around 1.5 kilometres of pipes were used to install a water network in the modular settlement for IDPs, where Oleksandra and her family live.
“When the full-scale war began, our community hosted more than 4,000 people. When we started setting up this modular settlement, we lacked the resources needed to build the necessary infrastructure, so we asked for assistance. Without this support, it would have been extremely difficult to provide the settlement with a water supply,” the head of the community recalls.
Today, around 1,100 IDPs live in the Domаnivka community. Fifteen homes have been installed in the modular settlement, which is home to families from Kherson, Donetsk and other regions affected by the hostilities.
UNICEF has now provided the community with additional materials to continue restoring water supply systems across 30 villages in the Domаnivka community. This will help improve access to water for nearly 13,000 residents.
UNICEF’s support also includes providing equipment to water utilities, drilling wells and reconstructing boiler houses to help ensure the reliable operation of critical infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region and other parts of Ukraine.
