At a time when many cities in Poland struggle to provide residents with clean and tasty water, Bolesławiec municipality is fortunate to have an abundant supply. However, our groundwater must be extracted and delivered to consumers cheaply and using modern methods. Residents of the city and municipality of Bolesławiec will be served by the modern Rakowice plant, modernized by PWiK.
This exceptional location, situated on layers of gravel that naturally filter the extracted water, has other advantages as well. Rakowice lies outside the area of KGHM’s negative influence (the company plans to extract copper ore in the Warta municipality area). The high-capacity plant ensures the security of water supplies for residents. The siphon system makes water extraction inexpensive (once the water has been siphoned, it is extracted at no additional cost).
Another piece of good news for Bolesławiec residents is that the water flowing from their taps will be softer. Put simply, the Modłowa plant produces hard water, while Rakowice produces softer water. When both plants operate, the waters mix. Now, when hard water from Modłowa flows from the taps, people complain about the greater amount of limescale building up in dishes. This will change once the Rakowice water treatment plant starts operating. Rakowice will supply 80% of the water for the urban and rural municipalities.
A strategic investment for Bolesławiec municipality and city
During the opening of the plant, the PWiK president spoke about an investment of strategic importance to the municipality. “We are opening the largest, most modern and cheapest-to-operate water treatment plant in Rakowice,” said Józef Król. “This investment will serve society for decades. It is worthwhile for Bolesławiec to be famous for its excellent water as well. For centuries, the city has cared about good water supplies. The first records in documents concerning the modernization of the sewerage system date back to 1492. That was the time when Columbus set out to discover America, while in Bolesławiec an already existing system supplied by the Living Spring was being modernized. Legends circulated about this spring: it was said that water drawn from it brought health, a good marriage and even eternal life,” the president recalled the local history.
From a lecture given by Józef Król, attendees learned that Bolesławiec residents had faced water shortages several times. The Living Spring dried up in 1928, and the city continued to grow. New wells were drilled with better or worse results. One interesting fact was that in the 1960s, workplaces were tasked with digging wells and searching for water. This led, thanks to the PKS company, to the creation of the Modłowa water treatment plant, which still operates today and has been transformed into a modern network monitoring center.
“Today, PWiK serves three local governments, that is, 72,000 residents,” Król said. “We must deliver healthy, good-quality water to residents and remove wastewater. Our water and sewerage network is more than 1,200 km long. Everything must be operational and work properly. This shows the scale of our work and responsibility,” the president added.
A representative of Metrolog sp. z o.o., the company that carried out the modernization of the Rakowice plant, praised the investor’s efficient work. “From submitting the offer to signing the contract, everything was coordinated on schedule. It was also important to make the plant’s shutdown as short as possible, and we managed to restart it after nine months, three months earlier than planned,” said Lech Wojcieszyński, president of Metrolog.
Aleksander Skorupa, president of the Wrocław Regional Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, also congratulated the investors. “I will mention two things that I admire from the perspective of a local-government official. In Bolesławiec, you appreciate the value of water. I believe water is like health: we appreciate it only when it is lacking. And we may especially run short of good-quality water. The second thing I was able to see here was cooperation between municipalities, including distant ones. Such cooperation is always the most effective, but I know that reaching an agreement is not easy. All the more reason to congratulate you,” added Aleksander Skorupa.
The view that cooperation with Bolesławiec-based PWiK is good was confirmed by Ludwik Kaziów, mayor of Lwówek Śląski, who attended the opening.
While offering his congratulations, the mayor noted that it is difficult to talk about municipalities’ basic tasks, such as water supply and wastewater disposal, because local-government officials are often expected to deliver spectacular projects. “However, we are responsible for basic services, which must be inexpensive and provided at the highest possible level,” said Piotr Roman. “In the case of PWiK, it is clear that this was an investment planned in detail and carried out exemplary. Without these efforts, there would be no investment boom. In Bolesławiec, we already have seven companies in the economic zone, as well as companies expanding, such as Bader, which plans to build a logistics center for an automotive company. We are trying to attract new residents and investors; one of our advantages is quality of life. Good water and security of its supply are irrefutable arguments. We are proud to have such a wise enterprise that uses the resources available in the municipality efficiently and intelligently. We should also mention the passion with which people work at our PWiK. It was palpable today; in addition to doing their jobs, they give much more. I can say that Bolesławiec is proud of you,” the mayor concluded his congratulations.