Lviv municipal utility company “Lvivvodokanal” has filed a claim with the Lviv District Administrative Court seeking to have the decision of Sokilnyky Village Council on amendments to the master plan of the village of Sokilnyky declared unlawful and invalid.
The challenged decision No. 1370 was adopted on 30 December 2024. Under the updated master plan, the population of Sokilnyky is projected to grow from roughly 8.8 thousand to 50.7 thousand residents, that is, by more than 41.9 thousand people. The new large-scale development is to be supplied with centralised water, and wastewater disposal is to be handled, in particular, via Lviv’s sewerage system.
According to the company’s calculations, additional domestic and drinking water consumption by the population and educational institutions could reach about 8.9 thousand cubic metres per day, that is, more than 273.5 thousand cubic metres per month. These figures do not include industrial needs or fire-fighting. At the same time, Sokilnyky has no own source of centralised water supply: the master plan names the existing Malechkovychi–Lviv water main, to which consumers are already connected, as the water source.
Lvivvodokanal explains that there is no spare capacity in this direction and no technical possibility to connect new developments of such a scale. The document also envisages connecting Sokilnyky’s stormwater drainage to Lviv’s networks and treating the effluent at the city’s wastewater treatment facilities. This involves using engineering infrastructure that is the municipal property of the Lviv City Territorial Community.
According to the company, Sokilnyky Village Council did not approach Lvivvodokanal to agree the feasibility of such a connection, and Lviv City Council did not give consent for the use of the city’s networks to service new development in the neighbouring community. The utility company stresses that connection issues must be resolved taking into account the throughput capacity of the networks, the reserve capacity of facilities, the ability to accept additional effluent and the need for reconstruction or construction of new infrastructure, and that such decisions cannot be taken without the participation of the operating company.
It is further noted that the master plan does not specify sources of funding for the required modernisation or construction of new networks. The company warns that without a clear compensation mechanism, the costs of increasing capacity may in effect be shifted onto consumers in other communities, primarily Lviv.
“This master plan envisages supplying water to more than 50 thousand people – effectively increasing the load on the existing system several times over. The existing water intake that currently serves Sokilnyky does not have sufficient capacity to withstand such a load. Therefore, we consider the approval of such a master plan premature and unfounded,” said Dmytro Vankovych.
In its statement of claim, LMCP Lvivvodokanal asks the court to annul Sokilnyky Village Council decision No. 1370 as unlawful and invalid, and to involve Lviv City Council in the case as a third party on the claimant’s side. The company argues that the networks and facilities which the master plan designates as the source of water supply and the recipient of Sokilnyky’s wastewater belong to the municipal property of the Lviv City Territorial Community.
Previously, Lviv City Council had already challenged the approval of this same master plan in court. The Supreme Court confirmed the city council’s right to defend its interests in court and remitted the case for substantive consideration.