LM: Moravian water conduit serves continuously for 100 years

Prague, March 21 (CTK) - A 57.5-km-long water conduit from Brezova nad Svitavou to Brno, south Moravia, from 1913 has served in its original shape continuously to date, which is unique in terms of its length in the Czech Republic, the daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes Thursday.

Water from underground wells in Brezova covers the distance to Brno in some 24 hours, LN adds.

On the occasion on the water conduit's 100-year anniversary, experts, from the Brno Water and Sewerage Works, checked its quality. They concluded that it might need another inspection in 50 years only, LN says.

A crushing majority of the pipes are original, along with other technologies used in the conduit," Ladislav Prokop, from the Brno Water and Sewerage Works, said.

The conduit is made of 100-year-old grey cast-iron 60-65 cm diameter pipes, LN says.

"Labour costs were allegedly low at the time of its construction, while material was costly," Prokop told LN.

The municipality decided to buy high-quality material but it chose the shortest route (to spare pipes) though it required harder work, LN says.

The local spring area in Brezova is even older than the water conduit. A total of 14 wells supply 265 litres of water to Brno a second, LN notes.

Since 1913, the system, inspired by a several-km-long water conduit from the Alps to Vienna, has only slightly changed. Electronic security devices were installed in the tunnel and the access road was asphalted, for instance, LN says.

There is no steam engine any more in a nearby cabin but a modern power generator. But electricity is needed only for air pumps to remove air from the conduit if need be, LN adds.

Otherwise, the system uses the laws of nature and water is running on the gravity flow principle since the pipeline is submerged in the wells and the other end is lower than the water level, Brno Water and Sewerage Works general director Ladislav Haska said.

Experts point out that much younger water conduits need reconstruction and the replacement of their parts much more frequently, LN writes.

Moreover, the then builders left some spare pipes along the conduit for possible repairs. "We have run out of them only recently," Prokop noted.

In the 1970s, under the communist regime, the Brno authority decided to build a parallel water conduit with a much larger capacity. However, it is probably not as durable as its predecessor, LN writes.