Strengthening control over drinking water quality: the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada considered the report of the Accounting Chamber on the international audit

The Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Environmental Policy at its meeting on January 13 considered Report of the Accounting Chamber on the results of the coordinated audit on Goal 6 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals «Ensure availability and rational use of water resources and sanitation for all».

Following the results of the committee's consideration of this issue, it was decided to take note of the Accounting Chamber's information on the Joint Report and recommended that the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, and the State Agency for Water Resources of Ukraine ensure the organization of the full implementation of the recommendations provided based on the audit results.

In turn, the Deputy Chairman of the Accounting Chamber, Serhiy Klyuchka, during his speech at the committee meeting, thanked the people's deputies for their attention to the issues covered by the audit, and noted that out of the 20 recommendations of the Accounting Chamber provided based on the results of the national audit, 15 - have already been implemented or are in the process of being implemented, another 5 recommendations - scheduled for implementation after the lifting of martial law.

Representatives of the control objects also present at the committee meeting reported that they, in particular, had taken a number of measures: the procedure for using funds to provide rural settlements with centralized water supply as a priority was reviewed, management plans for 9 river basins were adopted, a number of newly constructed and undamaged water management facilities were put into operation, the procedure for state water monitoring was changed in order to standardize the procedure for determining the ecological and chemical state of surface water bodies, etc.

As a reminder, the relevant control measure was carried out jointly with the supreme audit institutions of the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Croatia and Hungary (audit coordinator). Each country, within the framework of its national audit, independently identified internal problematic issues of water resources use and sanitation.

Based on the recommendations provided based on the results of national audits, joint recommendations were prepared by the SAIs of the participating countries, which recommended to the governments of their countries:

– improve coordination between state bodies and stakeholders in implementing Goal 6;

– clearly define the roles and responsibilities of national authorities;

– create integrated databases for exchanging information on the state of water resources;

–  improve monitoring and reporting processes;

– prioritize infrastructure investments, introduction of new technologies, etc.

For reference.

The National Audit of the Accounting Chamber on the effectiveness of measures aimed at achieving Goal 6 "Ensure accessibility and sustainable management of water resources and sanitation" of the Sustainable Development Goals of Ukraine for the period up to 2030 covered the years 2019-2022. The corresponding Report and decision were adopted in early June 2023. The audit, in particular, confirmed that the access of the population of Ukraine to high-quality drinking water is limited. About 65.2% of the country's population is provided with centralized water supply (25% of rural residents and 98% of urban residents).