Partizansk Water Cutoff Forces Residents to Melt Snow

Several thousand residents of Partizansk have been living without cold water for almost a week. On some streets, water has been absent for the sixth day, while on others, the supply stopped three days ago. According to the townspeople, there is no organized water delivery to the districts, so people are forced to buy water in stores or melt snow for household needs.

Residents have been mass-reporting the problem in the city administration«s chat and on the Primorye government»s social media. People say that in most houses, there hasn«t been a drop of water in the taps for several days, and the official information about »temporary shutdowns« from local authorities does not correspond to reality.

«There has been no water for the sixth day. Not a drop,» stated residents of Komsomolskaya Street.

«On Leninskaya Street, on the fifth floor, there has been no water at all for three days. What restrictions are they talking about — it»s unclear,« wrote a townswoman.

According to Primorye residents, in some districts, water appeared only for 10–15 minutes late at night or early in the morning, when most people were sleeping or working away from home.

«We waited for water until two in the morning, it appeared for about fifteen minutes. We managed to wash up somehow,» people complained.

The situation is particularly difficult for pensioners, large families, and residents of the private sector. People noted that not only residential buildings but also social facilities, including medical institutions, have been left without water.

«I was at a doctor»s appointment — there«s no water. How can they work in such conditions?» exclaimed a patient at Partizansk City Hospital.

The administration of Partizansk and the resource-supplying organization Delta LLC explained the situation by severe, abnormal frosts, deep ground freezing, and a sharp drop in the river water level. According to the authorities, because of this, the operation of the third lift of the «Southern» water intake, which supplied water to most of the city, was suspended.

«Due to the water shortage, this section had to be temporarily stopped twice a day — for two to three hours before lunch and after 7:00 PM, to ensure water accumulation in the system,» the authorities clarified.

Speaking about the work carried out, the city«s press service reported that the day before, specialists installed canal-flushing equipment to clean the drains, which was supposed to help stabilize pressure in the water supply network. Simultaneously, repair work was underway: by that time, about 40 meters of the centralized main pipeline had been cleaned, and another approximately 25 meters remained to be worked on, which is why the water supply was temporarily suspended.

Brigades started continuing the cleaning early in the morning, with completion of the work and launch of the water intake planned by the end of daylight on January 23. However, it turned out that to restore the water intake, the riverbed needs to be deepened with an excavator.

«On January 24, work continues to divert water into the drainage channel with a bucket. We draw the population»s attention to the fact that work at the facility will continue intensively until the water supply situation in the city normalizes,« stated the Partizansk administration.

Representatives of Delta, in turn, warned residents that immediately after the supply is restored, the water quality in the first hours will deteriorate, so it was recommended to use it only for household needs; for drinking and cooking, water should be used only after boiling.

After hyperchlorination is completed, according to the specialists, the water quality should normalize within a few hours, and the pressure and flow in the system should be restored. At the same time, specialists assured that residents allegedly received limited water supply with weak pressure.

«This situation is under the control of the region»s governor. Delta and the district administration apologize to the population for the situation and will keep residents informed about the progress of the work,« the city hall addressed the residents.

At the same time, residents actively refuted the words of local authorities. On Leninskaya, Moskovskaya, Nagornaya, Gogolevskaya, in the area of the 3rd mine, on Pereval, TsOF, Glubokaya — people are mass-writing the same thing: there is and has been no limited water supply, the pipes have been dry for several days.

«Everyone should have water stored, they told us. But where to replenish it if there»s no tanker?« exclaimed a local resident.

«Next recommendation: go collect snow and melt it. At least we»re lucky with the snow,« wrote a townsman in response.

«The main thing — don»t use yellow snow,« joked another victim of the utility emergency in Partizansk.

In general, locals do not believe the official version about abnormal frosts and water receding in the river. Townspeople said that water disruptions in Partizansk occur regularly, and the «Southern» water intake has been «repaired and restored for the second year now.»

«In summer, there was no water due to »abnormal heat,« in winter — due to »abnormal frosts.« Everything is abnormal with us,» complained a local resident.

Separate dissatisfaction arises from the organization of the work: emergency brigades do not work at night, and the deadlines for restoring water supply are constantly being postponed.

«How much money has been poured into it, and to no avail. Or into someone»s pockets? All we hear is that work is going on and equipment has been purchased, but there«s no result,» people wrote.

Townspeople also fear that the lack of water could affect the heating system. In comments on the Partizansk administration«s posts, they wrote about the risk of stopping the modular boiler house due to lack of replenishment in the area of the 3rd mine. Concerns were expressed that five-story buildings risk having their heating systems freeze over. In the private sector, people wrote about the possibility of systems freezing soon.

Many questions were also raised about the possible introduction of a state of emergency, reminding that under current legislation, the cutoff of cold water supply for more than 24 hours is grounds for such measures. The issue of recalculating utility bills is also being raised.

On January 24, it became known that the prosecutor«s office of Partizansk has started an inspection into the fact of inadequate water supply. The supervisory authority will assess the legality of the shutdowns, the deadlines, as well as the organization of water delivery, which the residents never saw.

At the prosecutor«s demand, work has already begun to clear the riverbed and clean the water intake from silt. Separately, the legality of charging for water, which people effectively do not have, will be checked. The progress of restoring the water supply has been put under the control of the prosecutor»s office.

Moreover, water problems are being recorded in other settlements of Primorye. It is reported that more than 7,000 residents of the village of Vrangel are without water — there, an emergency shutdown has affected dozens of houses and social facilities, and the prosecutor«s office is also conducting an inspection. Users also write about disruptions in the Nadezhdinsky district.