BUSINESS

A Water Distribution Infrastructure To Take Pride In Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava, (SmVaK Ostrava) is the most important water distribution and management company in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The company supplies over 730,000 end consumers in the districts of Karviná, Opava, Nový Jičín, and Frýdek-Místek with high quality drinking water. Drinking water from the company facilities goes to Ostrava, Hlučín, and Studénka where the infrastructure and water distribution system is operated by another company whose water supplies insufficient for the demand.

The largest water treatment plant in the region, in Podhradí u Vítkova, produces drinking water from the mull of the Jeseníky (a resource chain of dams from Slezská Harta to Kružberk) for a significant part of the Olomouc Region, Přerov District. SmVaK Ostrava is also responsible for the collection and treatment of wastewater, processed in over seventy water treatment plants for an area with a population of over half a million. “We can be really proud of the water management system in the region, not just on a national scale but also in comparison with neighbouring countries. Whenever I present the ways we manage our water resources to produce drinking water in our plants, the way water is distributed, how robust and flexible our

system is when solving problems with any of the resources, professionals in Poland and Slovakia show us great respect and recognition,” said Mr Anatol Pšenička, CEO at SmVaK Ostrava.

The length of the key water main totals 500 kilometres, with about 5,080 kilometres of water lines connecting end users, and about 380 water towers storing drinking water for end clients.

The crucial production and distribution system for supplying the region with drinking water is the Regional Water Supply System of Ostrava (Ostravský oblastní vodovod), sixty years old as of 2018. Three central water treatment plants (Podhradí u Vítkova, Nová Ves u Frýdlantu nad Ostravicí, and Vyšní Lhoty) draw water from dams in the valleys of the Jeseník and Beskid Mountains, managed by the state-governed company Odra Basin (Povodí Odry), i.e. Kružberk, Šance, and Morávka). Then the water is distributed to water towers at individual urban areas and settlements.

“A drinking water processing and distribution network with waste water treatment facilities, robust and interconnected like ours inevitably demands conceptual and continuous care. In 2018, we invested 540 million CZK in the infrastructure itself, and another 230 million in repairs. 2019 will in this view be a record year: we have almost 660 million CZK ready to invest, and more money will be spent on repairs so that the final sum will reach about 800 million CZK. We expect the number will increase in the long-term,” explained Mr Pšenička. POSITIV 2/2019 ǀ 21