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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Critical Water, Wastewater, and Thermal Infrastructure Development for a Resilient Neighborhood in War-Affected Ukraine

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The Central Ukrainian municipality of Tetiiv is experiencing an influx of migrants due to its relatively safe position amid the Russian invasion. Tetiiv, in collaboration with the Ukrainian NGO Vid Sertsya Budova, is building a new neighborhood to accommodate internally displaced people, refugees, war veterans, and local residents. The neighborhood will require water, wastewater, and thermal infrastructure that satisfies European Union requirements given Ukraine’s ambition to join the economic bloc. This thesis performs a pre-feasibility study to help Tetiiv and Vid Sertsya Budova create an optimal configuration of water, wastewater, and thermal infrastructure for the new neighborhood. For water infrastructure, the report calculates water consumption using the BREEAM framework, quantifies storage requirements, analyzes water quality, estimates rainwater harvesting potential, and identifies optimal water source locations within 30 km using the DRASTIC methodology combined with geospatial analysis. For wastewater infrastructure, the study estimated wastewater generation, analyzed different wastewater treatment options, and used a decision matrix to identify the most optimal wastewater system for the site, a moving bed biofilm reactor system. The thermal infrastructure study developed a conceptual heating system for the new neighborhood, incorporating ground-source heat pumps in each row house and single-family home, vertical boreholes, a thermal energy network, and a wastewater heating system for the multifamily co-living units. This study offers a blueprint for Ukraine and other regions recovering from urbicidal conflict and disaster to rebuild in alignment with the new climate paradigm.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master
Department dc:contributor.department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2025

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Gendler, Isaac A.
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Knox-Hayes, Janelle

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
  • Copyright retained by author(s)

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/162106
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/162106

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Gendler, Isaac A.. Critical Water, Wastewater, and Thermal Infrastructure Development for a Resilient Neighborhood in War-Affected Ukraine. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2025. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/162106