Local people fill up bottles with fresh drinking water, as the main supply pipeline for drinking water for the city was damaged in Kherson region at the beginning of Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine October 16, 2022.
The attacks have disrupted electricity across large parts of Ukraine, killing dozens of people and leaving other places without access to clean water.
"Ukraine's water infrastructure, from dams to water treatment and wastewater systems, has been extensively targeted by Russia," Gleick wrote in an email.
After nearly a month without water, city officials were forced to begin pumping yellowish, salty water from the Southern Buh River estuary to clear sewers and let residents flush toilets and wash.
Bottles of water are available in stores, but many residents, impoverished by war, depend on bottled water donations from abroad, even as pools of water snake onto streets from leaking mains.