Protest in Donetsk Oblast Over Irregular Water Supplies

Local citizens in Druzhkivka, Donetsk oblast, protested against the lack of domestic water supply on Thursday, July 21, the regional coordinator of ‘Strong Communities of Donetsk Oblast’ movement Pavlo Ostrovskyi informed Ukrayinska Pravda.

"About 500 citizens of Druzhkivka gathered to protest the summer water cutoffs. They think it is unjust that in Druzhkivka water is cut off during the daytime and supplied in the morning and in the evening, also not regularly, while in the neighboring cities people have it 24/7," he said.

Another thing that the locals were dissatisfied with is the increase of rates for water supplies by 50%. They also demanded to transfer the Druzhkivka part of the water supply facilities to the ownership of the city. Currently, it belongs to the oblast communal enterprise Voda Donbasu [En: Water of Donbas] — the protesters demanded to fire the director of the enterprise Oleksiy Dolbeshchenkov, as there is a conflict of interest between his position and his family business. Dolbeshchenkov’s wife has a business selling purified water, and the sales go up when the water supply is cut off.

Deputy Mayor of Druzhkivka Ruslan Vereshchagin told the protesters Voda Donbasu was fulfilling its obligations fully, although most recently the executive committee that includes Vereshchagin deemed the work of Druzhkivka water company unsatisfactory. Acting director of the Druzhkivka water company Serhiy Kaushan said he was doing everything in his power to establish the water supply during the daytime.

The protesters unanimously supported a resolution related to the abovementioned issues, and 373 people signed it, Ostrovskyi said. The people are planning to collect several thousand more signatures and forward the appeal to the Donetsk oblast governor, director of Voda Donbasu communal enterprise, Druzhkivka mayor, and Donetsk oblast prosecutor.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda