The development of sewerage and waste water treatment

in Prague

The way we dispose of waste generated in the course of human activities is a clear sign of the cultural, social and technical levels of our society, clearer than the number of banking houses in the country or the weight of steel produced per capita. The understanding of the requirement to drain waste water developed only gradually and over a very long period.

Most cities in ancient Greece and Rome developed complex networks of sewers draining waste water into the nearest watercourse. Among the most famous ones, there is the Cloaca Maxima in Rome, which begun to be constructed during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus. According to preserved records, these ancient times witnessed first attempts to dispose of centrally drained waste water by the use of methods which we now promote as „natural treatment“ (e.g. absorbing water in porous soils used in ancient Greece).

In comparison with ancient cities, medieval Europe was filthy and unhealthy, resulting in very poor public hygiene. Municipal waste and animal excrements, piled up in the streets of medieval settlements, were washed away by rain and infiltrated water wells, from which the infection spread. There was nothing resembling what we now understand as sewerage network and the City of Prague was no exception to this. The first real sewer was constructed in 1660 in the Jesuit Complex of Clementinum. Water from a fountain washed waste from toilets and kitchens away into the river of Vltava.

The understanding of sewerage requirements did not change until the 18th century. The progress is associated particularly with F.A.Hergeth (1741 - 1800), a professor at the Prague Technical University. His plans were the basis for the development of the first systematic sewerage network, which length reached approwimately 19 km. The next wawe of construction followed in 1818 and 1820, initiated by Count Rudolf Chotek, the supreme governor for The Czech Lands. During this period, the network was extended by 44 km, draining waste water into Vltava without any treatment. It was not until 1883 that the necessity to construct a modern sewerage matured in professional and later political circles.

The first public tender was announced by the Municipal Council in 1884, but none of the projects satisfied the demanded criteria. In 1888 a City Sewerage Office was founded to collect all missing data, carry out a detailed levelling plan of Prague and to analyse the statistics regarding the rain and underground water. In 1891, two projects were made and the Municipal Council invited an independent authority from abroad to stand as arbiter to them.

Lindley´s sewage works was in service until 1967, when a modern waste water treatment plant was put into operation. Due to frequent difficulties of the new plant, the historic building was maintained as an emergency backup and even in the early 1980s, the sluge was still pumped by using the eighty-year-old pumps made in 1902. This fact is probably the main reason why the old sewage works survived to see better times. The forgotten building was discovered by a team of enthusiasts who begun its gradual restoration. On April 26, 1991, the sewage works became a listed site of national heritage and the idea of transforming the unique technical structure to a museum matured.