The town of Vylkove in Odesa Oblast, also known as the "Ukrainian Venice" because of its buildings along canals, is facing the threat of a sanitary and epidemiological disaster. Most of the town is still not connected to the sewerage system. At the same time, transporting wastewater to the fields of the municipal enterprise has become impossible because, as it turns out, the enterprise does not have state deeds for the land under its treatment facilities and settling tanks.
The situation was reported by the "Bessarabia INFORM" outlet.
A European grant down the drain
Sewerage in the waterside part of Vylkove was a special case. Since houses were built on wooden walkways over the water, sewage was discharged uncontrollably into the canals, known locally as "eryky".
About ten years ago, an attempt was made to solve this problem with a European grant – the town received €4.5 million. The project was designed specifically for the old part of the town. A vacuum sewerage system was to be built there to stop faecal pollution, and a water pipeline was also to be laid in the same trench to reduce water losses.
However, a change of power in the town hindered the project. Citing their sources, the media report that the designers were told the new authorities were not interested in someone else's project, while residents were not informed about the importance of the work. As a result, people took to protests, which became a pretext for cutting the project to a minimum – most residents were left without both sewerage and water supply.
Some of the work was nevertheless completed – the sewerage was laid and the treatment facilities were reconstructed. All of this was put into operation back in 2017.
However, only a third of the town is currently connected to the vacuum sewerage system, including schools, the hospital and several tourist facilities.
"Surprisingly, the Vylkove City Council building and the House of Culture remained cut off from the system, as did most of the private part of the town, because connecting to the vacuum sewerage was simply unaffordable," the outlet notes.
Pumping out with special vehicles has become impossible
Special vehicles could be used to prevent a large-scale sewage leak. However, there are several "buts".
The municipal vehicles were cut up for scrap. This applies both to the only working sewage truck of the municipal enterprise "Zmiinyi" and to other machinery – an excavator, a tractor and woodworking machines.
"They decided to write off the sewage truck and hand it over for scrap. I told them: 'What are you doing? You could at least have put a barrier at the fields, charged private operators an official fee, controlled the volumes of waste and earned money for the budget!' But literally 3–4 months into Matvii Ivanov's term, after New Year, the truck was cut up. The municipal enterprise 'Zmiinyi' was left with no special machinery at all," said Oleksandr Sanzhara, a former member of the Vylkove City Council.
Private entrepreneurs filled the gap for a while, but one of them died, and the other cannot remove sewage due to problems at the "Zmiinyi" municipal enterprise itself. In summer 2026, representatives of the State Environmental Inspectorate inspected the site. They had no questions for the entrepreneur – he had an official contract and delivered wastewater for disposal to the municipal enterprise, paying for each cubic metre. However, it turned out that the municipal enterprise itself had for decades lacked a state deed for the land under its irrigation fields and treatment facilities.
"They were given three months to resolve the situation, and that deadline has passed. I came to the municipal enterprise and asked whether they had registered the discharge site. They told me: 'Not yet, we are working on it.' I said: 'Sorry, the deadline has expired, I can no longer work, otherwise I become a violator.' I am not going to get huge fines because of the municipal enterprise's inaction. I closed my sole proprietorship and put the truck up for sale. I will not return to this business in Vylkove, and I have let them know," the entrepreneur told journalists.
As a result, since 30 September 2026, the wastewater removal service in Vylkove has been completely blocked.
People demand action, but the authorities remain silent
Environmental inspectors did not stop the pumping out of sewage from apartment buildings, otherwise an environmental disaster would have occurred immediately. However, collection from the private sector is currently impossible.
Residents are collecting signatures for an official appeal addressed to Larysa Aranson, acting head of the Vylkove City Council, and Rodion Abashev, head of the Izmail District State Administration. People stress that wastewater is already getting onto their plots and into groundwater, and they also point to safety risks and the possible spread of infectious diseases.
"We believe that blocking the work of private sewage trucks without providing alternative (municipal) transport and designated environmentally safe discharge sites constitutes inaction by the authorities in ensuring the functioning of the town," the appeal says.
Residents demand that an interdepartmental commission be convened urgently and that sewage discharge points be legalised. If private operators refuse, the town must provide municipal vehicles for this at affordable rates.
Journalists from "Bessarabia INFORM" asked the town leadership and the district administration for comment, but so far there have been no responses or specific plans to prevent an environmental disaster.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, wastewater from the town of Bolhrad has been discharged directly onto suburban land for years, without treatment or filtration.
In August, wastewater from Kyiv poisoned water bodies in Sofiivska Borshchahivka, causing a mass fish kill.
In Volyn, law enforcement officers are investigating the "disappearance" of part of UNICEF funds during the reconstruction of treatment facilities. At the same time, the poor quality of the work has also been reported.
