The director of Kyivvodfond assured that all drinking fountains are equipped with generators

Yuriy Kovtun, director of the Kyivvodfond Municipal Utility Company, stated that generators have been prepared in Kyiv to keep public drinking fountains operational during prolonged power outages. Currently, 182 drinking fountains are operational in the capital, 154 of which can be connected to an alternative power source. He made this announcement on October 14 during a meeting of the Public Council at the Kyiv City State Administration.

“182 drinking fountains are currently operating, and we have the ability to connect 154 of them to an alternative power supply,” Kovtun noted.

According to him, they are also exploring the possibility of connecting another 19 drinking fountains that previously did not have alternative power sources. At the same time, connecting them is complicated by the specific characteristics of the wells, as some of them are managed by “Kyivvodokanal” and differ from those serviced by “Kyivvodfond.”

“The wells themselves are enormous and very long. For example, in Lukyanivka and Shevchenko Park, the wells are often located very far from the drinking fountains themselves,” the director explained.

He added that such wells may require more powerful generators. According to him, standard 9-kW equipment is insufficient—depending on the facility, a generator with a capacity of 50 or even 100 kW may be needed.

Generators for the 154 drinking fountains are distributed among the management companies and stored, in particular, at housing and communal services offices. The equipment is labeled so that employees know which drinking fountain it needs to be delivered to.

“As soon as we receive a directive from the Kyiv City State Administration to connect the drinking fountain complexes—when there is no water or electricity supply for an extended period—we instruct the management companies, and each one delivers the generator to its respective drinking fountain and connects it,” Kovtun explained.

According to him, the workers responsible for connecting the generators have undergone training, and the necessary electrical work has been completed at the sites to simplify the process of starting up the equipment.

“Before that, we trained the people who actually do this work and carried out electrical installation work designed so that even the least technically savvy person in the world could come and connect it…,” emphasized the director of Kyivvodfond.

Kyivvodokanal warned of the risk of water shortages due to the shutdown.

Kyivvodokanal explained whether the Bortnytska station could be shut down with just a few strikes.

Kyiv residents were also warned about the risk of power and water outages and given advice.