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SmVaK Ostrava has been fulfilling this-year motto of the World Water Day - Leaving no one behind  - thanks to its responsible approach towards the infrastructure, capacity of central sources that are managed by Povodí Odry and thanks to the unique system of the Ostrava Area Water Network.

Ostrava, 20 March 2019 –SmVaK Ostrava is the leading supplier of drinking water in the Moravian-SiIesian Region. Top quality drinking water from the foothills of the Jeseníky Mountains is also supplied to some parts of the Region of Olomouc (locations close to Přerov). SmVaK Ostrava operates more than 70 wastewater treatment plants in 80 towns and villages. The key task is to provide top quality services for all its customers – this means, leaving no one behind. This task has become of urgent importance in periods of drought that the Czech Republic has faced in past years. Thanks to the Ostrava Area Water Network, which is a unique backbone system used for production and distribution of drinking water in this region, everybody was supplied the top quality drinking water even in those years.

 “We perceive this year motto of the World Water Day from several perspectives. We renew and maintain the water infrastructure so that we could supply sufficient quantities of excellent water to all our customers. And we discharge and treat the wastewater, the quality of which is then typically better than that of water in local rivers.
We also apply the same price for big cities and small remote villages in spite of the fact that costs are logically very different for such locations.
We have been using, renewing and increasing efficiency of the Ostrava Area Water Network which celebrated last year 60 years since its foundation and is a guarantee now for stable supplies of drinking water in this region.
And we are also ready to connect new locations and areas to our water system. For instance, new houses which are being built close to cities or under the mountains, if such connection is in line with the regional development plant for water networks and sewage systems, if it is feasible in terms of technology and capacities and if it is economical”, says Anatol Pšenička, Managing Director of SmVaK Ostrava.

In 2019 SmVaK Ostrava plans to increase significantly by CZK 127 million the investments into infrastructure, reaching CZK 657 million per year. This will be the highest amount in the SmVaK Ostrava’s history which will be invested into renewal, modernisation and development of water treatment plants, water networks, sewage systems and wastewater treatment plants. Almost CZK 250 million will be invested into sewage systems and wastewater networks. More than CZK 225 million will be invested into water networks and more than 110 million will be invested into the Ostrava Area Water Network – the backbone system used for production and distribution of drinking water in this region. In the long-term perspective, SmVaK Ostrava should invest as many as CZK 850 million in 2025.

Particular attention is being paid now to the Ostrava Area Water Network which celebrated in December 60 years of its existence. For instance, in 2015 and 2016, the company invested CZK 50 million to connect to this system almost 13,000 people living at the very east of this country, in the surroundings of Jablunkov. In past years, SmVaK Ostrava modernised at CZK 130 million the equipment and technologies in its biggest facility – the water treatment plant in Podhradí.

In 2018 it modernised the sludge system in the biggest water treatment plant in the Beskydy region – in Nová Ves u Frýdlantu nad Ostravicí (CZK 50 million) and now it is reconstructing there the equipment, technology and automated control system (CZK 125 million). This reconstruction will be completed in 2020. Attention is also paid to renewal of main water conduits (Záhumenice – Bělá nebo Chlebovice – Staříč – Bělá) and water reservoirs.

 “We are taking measures in order to transport water, if needed, between different parts of the region, eliminating thus problems, if any, in certain sources. This approach has worked very well in extremely hot and dry summers in 2015 and 2016. We used the pumping facility in Lískovec u Frýdku-Místku to supply water from the foothills of the Jeseníky Mountain, this means the water from the dams Slezská Harta and Kružberk was treated in the water treatment plant in Podhradí and supplied then to the region which normally receives water from sources in the Beskydy Mountains. And this flexibility is a guarantee of this year World Water Day’s motto: leaving no one behind and have enough good drinking water for all consumers", says Pšenička.