If you were thinking that you had finally left the cold behind as Moscow warms up and gets ready for summer, think again. For the Moscow Unified Energy Company (MOEK) has already begun its yearly shock treatment for Muscovites as it begins the rounds of switching off hot water in different areas of the city as it carries out hydraulic tests, repair work and replacement of pipelines.
The maintenance work usually continues throughout the summer until the end of August, depriving administrative districts in question of hot water for up to 21 days. Some areas of Moscow already began to lose their hot water on May 12, according to the press department of MOEK.
There is no logical pattern by which Moscow's hot water is to be switched off. The hot water will be switched off at different times even within one same administrative district.
"The time and number of days the water remains switched off depends on the amount of work that needs to be done in each district," said a press office spokesperson. "Obviously we cannot do all of Moscow at the same time, since the repair works will be carrying on until the end of August. The maximum time residents will go without hot water is 21 days, although some even get less."
The Lyublino district in the South-East, for instance, will get away with only 14 days without hot water, as will the Nagatino-Sadovniki district in the South of Moscow. South Butovo will only see its hot water switched off twice in the course of a single day, thanks to the modern technology already used in that area.
This year MOEK intends to carry out major works, laying almost 226 km of pipelines in the city. Its 5-year investment project for the modernization of pipelines should see the reconstruction of another 340 km of the heating network pipelines.
For more detailed and individual dates and places, you can look at MOEK's website, which lists each individual street in Moscow with the corresponding date the hot water gets switched off.
http://www.oaomoek.ru/sitetree/potreb/grafik.php
By Nathalie Cooper
