Residents of parts of the Skopje neighbourhoods Butel, Radišani and Kučeviška Bara will face a complete cut or restricted water supply tomorrow morning. The reason - planned technical interventions on the substation in TS Butel, carried out by EVN. Work begins at 5:00 in the morning and will last until completion. During that period there may be drops in pressure or temporary cuts.

The information was issued by JP „Vodovod i kanalizacija - Skopje". That's the standard procedure for informing citizens - but the question Skopje residents always ask is: why is it always the same neighbourhoods? Butel, Radišani and Kučeviška Bara have repeatedly turned up in water-cut headlines over the past few years. Does that mean the infrastructure there is in worse shape than in other parts of the city, or is the utility planning simply set up that way?

Residents in these neighbourhoods, especially those with children or older family members, know exactly how a day without water looks. The night before, they fill bottles. They postpone every household task that needs water. They buy packs of plastic bottles at the nearest shop, which is no small dent in most household budgets. And all of that for a „planned technical intervention".

Skopje's water sector has decades of investment debt. Many substations and pumps date from the 1970s and 80s, with occasional reconstructions but no full capital overhaul. That means any serious replacement of equipment drags a service cut along with it. The question is - when will the system be stable enough not to depend, every month, on some „intervention"?

For residents of these three neighbourhoods, the practical bit is simple - check the bottles, look in on the kid's room before heading off to work, prepare. No panic, it's not a pandemic. It's the urban reality of Skopje in 2026 - a city that hosts „mass eco-actions" the same weekend it can't deliver stable water to three neighbourhoods. Whether that's a paradox or a symptom of a city government that is much better at promoting big spectacles than at running the daily basics, every citizen decides for themselves looking at their own water bill.