Istotne.pl: How great a challenge is it to write the history of Bolesławiec’s water supply and distribution?
Anna Bober-Tubaj: A monograph on Bolesławiec’s waterworks and sewage system is a fantastic but very difficult challenge. Most of the material consists of studies written in German, in Gothic script.
Fortunately, there is truly a great deal of material. Bolesławiec’s water enjoyed a very high reputation. The technical solutions for obtaining water themselves won awards at exhibitions across Europe. This pre-war history has been recorded. The situation is more difficult with studies from after 1945. For that period, we rely only on materials held by the waterworks and in the state archive in Lubań.
Any mysteries?
We still do not know what the commissioning of the waterworks looked like after 1945. Although there are not many materials from that period, I hope to reconstruct this history and find everything that was written about it.
So let us start at the beginning. Apparently, Bolesławiec’s water was supposed to help people remain faithful in marriage.
As for the pre-war history, the material is fantastic. Information about the tapping of Bolesławiec’s living spring already appears in the Holstein chronicle—the oldest chronicle of Bolesławiec. The spring is described there in great detail. In 1538, the Bolesławiec chronicle mentions Emperor Frederick I, who scooped up water from the spring with his hand and stated that it had a refreshing effect. Water drawn from the spring was believed to have miraculous properties, which was the reason for numerous pilgrimages from Saxony and Silesia. The spring supplied the city with water, which was distributed through a water-supply system. The sewage system connected to it formed the basis of a system for irrigating gardens and fields—the second of its kind in Europe after Gouda in the Netherlands.
Legends held that the water, which served both people and animals, brought health, prosperity, and even marital fidelity. Some people also believed that it brought eternal life. Thanks to this water, Bolesławiec beer also enjoyed an exceptional reputation.
We also have a detailed description of what the water was used for. It was used not only for drinking, but also to power mills and bleach fabrics. Everything can be found in the chronicles.
The history of Bolesławiec’s sewage system is commemorated by a memorial stone with a plaque and engraved dates. It stands in the square on Bankowa Street, next to Primary School No. 2. The monument was thoroughly renovated by PWiK, which cares about the tradition and quality of Bolesławiec’s water.
Did this reputation last into modern times?
The city had boasted about its water since the era of Martin Opitz—the 16th century—but the 19th century saw a real boom in promoting its water and the technical solutions used in its sewage and water-supply systems. This reputation was confirmed at numerous exhibitions. As we know, world’s fairs were not devoted only to art, but also to science and technology.
There are many interesting facts in the history of Bolesławiec’s waterworks. Until 1870, water was free; later, after the installations were replaced, a fee of 20 thalers per year was introduced for each intake. At the beginning of the 1880s, the existing intakes supplied the city with 2,850 m³ of water per day. Each resident was allocated nearly 280 liters.
Apparently, Bolesławiec residents bought sewage—is that true?
The fees also applied to sewage. And the sewage was purchased by owners of fields along the Bóbr, known as Bolesławiec’s gardens, because thanks to the sewage, everything grew wonderfully there. An 18th-century graphic has survived showing when and for how long each farmer opened his sewer pipe and fertilized his fields. Naturally, he paid an appropriate fee for the sewage. Today we pay to have sewage taken away from our homes; in the past, people paid to discharge it onto cultivated fields.
In 1903, a modern sewage pumping station was also built on Dolne Młyny Street, formerly Niedermühlstrasse. The facility’s favorable location at one of Bolesławiec’s lower-lying points meant that sewage flowed to the pumping station by gravity.
It was initially treated there to remove physical impurities using a system of screens located in a chamber beneath the building, as well as settling tanks. The sewage was then pumped through a 400 mm-diameter main pipeline to irrigation fields located near the village of Dobra by Bolesławiec. After World War II, the pumping system fell into disrepair.
How did Bolesławiec residents talk about their water?
Bolesławiec residents were proud of their waterworks and their good water. Thanks to the city’s terraced location, it was fantastically and easily irrigated. Water flowed from the sandy hill—today Kozia Górka—and in this way supplied the lower part of the city. The second source of pride was the sewage system and its use. At first, the water flowed through wooden pipes, and later through stoneware ones.
The history of Bolesławiec’s water includes residents who admired it, kings who made pilgrimages to it, and surely many other things can be found as well. For example, the water-supply crisis in the 19th century, when the city was expanding.
Did the municipal authorities respond in some way to the water shortages?
That was when some of the deepest wells in Europe began to be drilled in Bolesławiec. Wells were dug to a depth of 400 meters. A stone at the stadium commemorates this. Several drilling attempts failed before water was finally found near today’s Łasicka Street. It did not take weeks, but years, and it was enormously expensive. The 1890s saw the development of the water intake at Łasicka. It was a beautiful, picturesque water intake in Bolesławiec.
Will this be pioneering, significant work—and ultimately the first of its kind?
I cannot assess my own work; I will do everything I can to make it a good, reliable monograph. The last surviving works on Bolesławiec’s waterworks date from the 1880s, and nothing was produced after 1945. In that sense, the monograph being prepared for the 450th anniversary of the waterworks will be the first.
For me, what is fantastic is that we have many elements that can be included in this monograph: we have literature describing the springs, anecdotes, and a rich history together with documented technological solutions that were pioneering on a European scale.
Bolesławiec had a carefully conceived and well-designed water and sewage system. Of course, it cannot be compared with modern times. But we can compare it with other cities. At fairs, we were mentioned as one of the safest, cleanest, and most hygienic cities in the region—a city that, for this reason, was not affected by epidemics.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)