The fear of water ends. With money from Poland, the Czech settlement will have its dream water supply system

Every day, he sees how the water level in the well near his family home gradually drops. But now Karel Řehák from Horní Vítkov u Chrastava hopes that the situation where his family would be left without water completely will not happen again.

Horní Vítkov, where Řehák lives, is one of the settlements and municipalities in the North Bohemian borderland that are threatened by the consequences of mining in the nearby Polish mine Turów. Specifically here by the loss of water in the wells. Very quickly after the conclusion of the Czech-Polish agreement on compensation for the consequences of mining from 2022, a project was therefore created in Chrastava, under which Horní Vítkov falls, to build a water supply system for a settlement that did not yet have one.

The construction for 66 million crowns will be paid for 100 percent from the funds sent to the Czech Republic for the so-called Turów Fund by the Polish government and the PGE company, which mines in the Turów mine.

They were already without water

Karel Řehák was immediately clear that he would connect to the new water supply after its completion. “There was nothing to hesitate about. We will be sure of water and it will be of better quality than before. We have already completely lost water once. We were without water for half a year and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. We had to have the well deepened with a borehole, so now we have water, but we would welcome a water supply. It’s expensive to have an analysis done every year to see if it’s OK,” a resident of Horní Vítkov told ČTK and Novinka.

According to him, there is great interest in the settlement in connecting to the water supply for Polish compensation. “There are a lot of people who will be very happy. During the summer, they may not have water in the well at all,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s more due to the drought or the influence of the mine. In my opinion, these are continuous containers and the long-term horizon would show that there would be a big problem with water here,” he added.

The Warsaw court annulled the validity of the assessment that allowed the extension of mining in Turów

Europe

The Mayor of Chrastava and Senator Michael Canov (Mayors for the Liberec Region) considers the water supply for Horní Vítkov a big deal. “So far, only Dolní Vítkov has a water supply system, and that has been since 1993. I thought that there could be a water supply system in Horní Vítkov someday as well, that it would never happen. And now it will be. Thanks to the funds from the Turów fund,” the mayor rejoices.

He also confirms that there was a lot of interest in connecting to the water supply. “Roughly a hundred houses will be connected to the water supply, and in addition to them, perhaps also a small school. It’s also a win for the school, it eliminates the fear of having to close or suspend operations when its well runs dry,” explained Canov.

As compensation, Poland sent 45 million euros (roughly 1.1 billion crowns) to the Czech Republic, of which 35 million went to the so-called Turów Fund. Thanks to the money from it, the construction of a water treatment plant in Liberec-Machnín has already begun, and the construction of another water supply in Václavice near Hrádek nad Nisou is soon to begin. The treatment plant and water pipes should then form one whole system.