At the very beginning, there were wells and rainwater reservoirs. Probably the first water-conduit in Prague was in Strahov, serving the local monastery. Another water-conduit is known to have been in Břevnov. Prague Castle also had its water-conduit, which took water from Brusnice brook and was conducted by means of pine wood pipes. All that remains of the water supply system, which originated in the 14th century, are water-towers, which can still be found near the Vltava. In the 19th century, when Prague was gradually becoming a modern city, the water supply system turned out to be too old and insufficient. As for quality, the water was a frequent source of diseases. The first modern waterworks was built at the beginning of 20th century in Kárané. His Majesty Franz Joseph I of Austria considered it a great enterprise, especially as far as sanitation was concerned. In 1929, another waterworks was built in Podolí and later on also in Želivka. From Želivka, the water runs through a fifty-kilometre long tunnel to Jesenice where a water-supply tank with the capacity of 200,000 cubic metres was built in 1960´s.
Many changes have occurred after the year 1989. Water supply has still been provided by Prague Water Company (PVK), which has made a big leap forward after it joined Veolia Water Group. The first step was to lower water leakage on its way to households, since the leakage constituted thirty to forty per cent at the beginning of the 1990’s. The water network had to be reconstructed, as it was very dated. For several decades, nothing had been done but necessary reparations of breakdowns. This is why parts of the network were as old as one hundred years. The network was so neglected that even today, one could find pipes in Prague that have been lying underground for maybe eighty years. Another interesting fact was a drop in water consumption. It kept going down from 150 litres per capita until it stabilized at around 100 litres per person.
Paradoxically, this led to a rise in prices of water. Although water consumption decreased, the expenses for water treatment stayed essentially the same. Water networks still had to be paid for and the costs of energy and chemicals practically did not fall, either. What is more, prices for certain products keep increasing, including chemicals, fuel, energy, crude water bought from the Vltava Catchment Area, payment for emissions of sewerage water and waste disposal, investments, repairs and development of infrastructure. Certain consolation can be the fact that the prices abroad are higher than in our country. There is, however, more to the changes that have happened to the water supply in Prague. For instance, there has been a significant improvement in customer care. Information on failures in water supply, as well as its prices and options how to register for water take-off can be obtained on the following website: www.pvk.cz (in Czech only) and in PVK’s call centre on the telephone number: 840 111 112. A significant number of samples of drinking water are tested on a daily bases and in Prague, the quality of water is monitored in 2,500 places each year.