On 30 June, Pustomyty City Council hosted the fifth meeting of the LIFE-U-SPRINGBOARD project
July 21, 2026
– a platform for change in water supply and wastewater treatment in communities, co-funded by the European Union and organised in collaboration with the Association of Local Councils "Council of Lviv Region".
During the meeting, representatives of local authorities, the expert community, and international partners discussed practical solutions to help communities improve the energy efficiency of water supply and wastewater treatment facilities, attract international funding, and implement modern tools for developing critical infrastructure.
Participants discussed the opportunities for international partnership and funding presented at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2026, the progress made in installing solar power stations at water infrastructure facilities, the prospects for using energy service contracts to modernise water utilities, and the implementation of pilot projects in collaboration with the UNDP in the Horodok and Zolochiv communities.
Welcoming remarks were delivered by Oleh Sernyak, Mayor of the Pustomyty Territorial Community, Volodymyr Vorobey, Director of the Centre for Regional Development, and Danylo Sorokovyi, Executive Director of the Association of Local Councils "Council of Lviv Region". Andriy Pelehatyi, Deputy Mayor for Executive Authorities of the Pustomyty City Council and working group coordinator from the Regional Development Agency of Lviv Region, chaired the meeting.
Yulian Konechnyi, Deputy Director for European Integration at the Regional Development Agency of Lviv Region, spoke to participants about the opportunities for international partnerships and securing funding, as presented during URC2026. Iryna Petrukhina, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Local Councils "Council of Lviv Region", presented the results of a community survey on the installation of solar power stations at water supply and wastewater treatment facilities, as well as the main needs and challenges communities face.
Yuliya Bohaichyk, a representative of the Centre for Regional Development, and Oleksiy Korchmit, energy service market development expert with the UNDP’s Green Energy Recovery Programme for Ukraine, shared their practical experience of implementing energy service contracts for water utilities and the potential for launching this mechanism with UNDP support in the Horodok and Zolochiv communities.
Following the presentations, the participants took part in a moderated discussion and visited the Pustomyty community’s wastewater treatment facilities, where they were briefed on the results of the modernisation of the water supply and wastewater treatment systems.
LIFE-U-SPRINGBOARD is implemented under the LIFE Programme and aims to promote sustainable water supply, modernise water treatment systems, and strengthen the institutional capacity of water utilities and local authorities.
