Residents of Skopje continue to face frequent interruptions in their water supply, as increasing breakdowns in the water network expose the weakness of infrastructure that is in critical condition.

In just the past few months, numerous Skopje neighborhoods have been left without water due to pipeline failures. Central parts of the city, including Makedonija Street, Koco Racin Boulevard and surrounding neighborhoods, have been repeatedly hit by unannounced outages. Reconstructions of small-diameter networks and valve replacements have become a daily routine for the crews of the public utility Vodovod i Kanalizacija.

Last month, due to repairs on the main city pipeline with a diameter of 1,600 millimeters, most of Skopje was left without water for several hours. The work included replacing non-functional valves, repairing leaking mechanisms, and replacing air vents along the stretch from the Gjorce Petrov roundabout to the intersection of Partizanski Odredi Boulevard and Nikola Parapunov Street.

The utility company explained at the time that the preventive intervention was necessary to avoid longer-lasting outages such as those experienced in Tetovo, Bitola, and Stip, where unrepaired failures caused multi-day supply interruptions.

The problem is not new - the distribution network in certain urban areas is aging and requires constant presence of field crews. Failures in smaller pipelines are the most common but also the hardest to predict, meaning residents often learn about the outage only after they have already lost water.

The Institute of Public Health has repeatedly urged residents to prepare for possible interruptions, advising them to store at least four liters of water per person per day and to use water exclusively for drinking, cooking, and hygiene during outage periods.

Experts point out that continuous investment in water infrastructure is needed to prevent the recurrence of these problems that directly affect the quality of life of Skopje residents.