Russia's water infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating, and the industry is plunging into losses - intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
Losses in Russia's water supply industry have reached 36 billion rubles due to low tariffs. 3% of networks become obsolete annually, and one in nine Russians lacks access to drinking water.
The water supply and sanitation industry in Russia is in a state of irreversible degradation. The sector's share in GDP has fallen to 0.24%, and net losses from regulated activities have reached 36 billion rubles – with no mechanisms for the system to escape this abyss. This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service, writes UNN.
Details
Formally, the market is growing: the volume of regulated services amounted to 588 billion rubles, with a nominal increase of 8–11% per year. In practice, this growth does not keep pace with inflation and does not solve any structural problems. The cost of services outpaces tariffs by an ever-increasing margin: since 2018, cold water supply costs have increased by 85%, and wastewater disposal by 92%, while tariffs have risen by only 45% and 58% respectively. The accumulated lag of the marginal payment index from real inflation for 2014–2025 is 39.1%. Only 17% of water supply organizations and 18% of wastewater disposal organizations showed profitable operations in 2024. Gross losses in the industry reached 136 billion rubles.
Physical infrastructure is deteriorating faster than it is being restored. Approximately 3% of utility networks become obsolete each year, while only 0.9–1.1% of water pipes and 0.35–0.38% of sewage pipes are replaced. The length of water supply networks requiring replacement has stalled at 250–251 thousand km – new pipes wear out as quickly as old ones are replaced. The share of worn-out sewage networks reached 46.1% in 2024 and continues to grow. In the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, 78.1% of water supply networks and 80.8% of sewage networks are worn out, and the situation in Tuva and Ingushetia is comparable – and all these regions are at the bottom of the socio-economic development ranking, meaning they are unable to finance modernization independently.
One in nine residents of Russia still does not have access to quality drinking water from centralized systems – and given the dynamics of network deterioration, this figure will only worsen in the coming years