Improved water services in Ukraine: How can the city of Zurich help?
SKAT brings extensive experience in capacity building and the water sector, along with its prior presence in Ukraine.
The cities of Zurich and Vinnytsia have initiated a cooperation focused on water supply and other water‑related issues. Vinnytsia’s municipal water services face significant challenges, including long‑term underfunding and outdated infrastructure. The ongoing war adds further challenges, such as a 15 percent population increase due to internally displaced people, staff shortages, and frequent power outages caused by Russia’s attacks on the national energy infrastructure.
Zurich and Vinnytsia aim to exchange experience between staff of their water utilities and to implement joint projects to improve water supply services for the citizens of Vinnytsia. They approached SKAT to facilitate the development of this cooperation. With our long‑standing experience in supporting Ukrainian municipalities and public services, we are helping to design effective exchange activities and projects that maximise value for both partners.
In 2024, SKAT accompanied a Zurich delegation visiting Vinnytsia and developed the concept for the cooperation. A year‑long inception phase in 2025 initiated technical exchanges and implemented scoping studies in order to prepare concrete projects. In September, a delegation from Vinnytsia visited Zurich to collaborate on joint initiatives, gain inspiration from Zurich’s water treatment systems, and exchange with various water experts and institutions. The visit also included an official meeting between Corinne Mauch, Mayor of Zurich, and Serhii Morhunov, Mayor of Vinnytsia, at which a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two cities in the water sector was signed.
