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