In the Russian Federation's "Golden Capital," more than 11,000 residents were left without drinking water due to an accident
In the city of Bodaybo in the Irkutsk Region (Russian Federation), a major center for gold mining, a critical water supply crisis has been ongoing for more than 10 days.
According to local news sources, due to an accident at the water intake facility, more than 11,000 residents have effectively been deprived of access to safe drinking water, and the city’s educational institutions have been closed indefinitely.
The utility crisis began on May 10, 2026, during the spring ice break-up and a sharp rise in the water level of the Vitim River. Powerful ice floes tore the floating pumping station from its moorings and carried it ashore, completely cutting off the water intake equipment from the river and halting the centralized supply to the city’s neighborhoods. This is already the second major utility failure in Bodaybo since the beginning of the year—last winter, due to the freezing of the main water pipeline, the city was left without heat and water for an extended period during severe cold snaps.
Currently, the city administration has officially warned residents that the water that began flowing from the taps after partial repair work is categorically unfit for consumption. According to the official results of laboratory tests conducted by Rospotrebnadzor experts, the quality of the water in the centralized system does not meet current hygiene standards for microbiological indicators. Due to the threat of an outbreak of infectious diseases, strict restrictions remain in effect in the city:
All public schools are completely closed;
Kindergartens have been suspended;
Selective delivery of technical water has been organized.
Currently, only three specialized vehicles from the municipal organization “TVK” are providing water to the population. To address the humanitarian crisis and deliver water, it was necessary to enlist equipment from the private gold mining companies “Altyn” and PJSC “Vysokay,” which are the main industrial enterprises in the region. The local occupation authorities and representatives of the utility services are still unable to provide exact dates for the complete disinfection of the network and the restoration of normal drinking water supply to residential buildings.
Last winter in the city of Bodaybo in the Irkutsk region, Mayor Oleksiy Botvin was fined approximately $125 for improper actions during a utility failure, after which residents were left without heating for nearly a month.
