Salty, yellow water disgusts residents in war-torn Mykolaiv

City leaders made a devil’s bargain – they began pumping water in from a brackish local river, now the water is destroying pipes and boilers, write Michael E Miller and Anastacia Galouchka

People fill plastic bottles with clean water at a humanitarian aid station in Mykolaiv (The Washington Post by Heidi Levine)

The tap water in this war-torn Ukrainian city is so salty and metallic that it chafes the skin. It is so discoloured that it stains clothes, bottles, even dinner plates. Most residents won’t bathe in it, let alone drink it.

“You can’t even give it to an animal,” says Maryna Shchur, 27, with a nod toward bottles of the yellowish liquid stored in her bathroom.

Yet, in Mykolaiv, any water at all from the faucets is a minor miracle.