Water Prices in CEE and CIS Countries. Volume II: Case Studies
Chapter 3.
Technical Profile
The following chapter comprises a brief technical profile of the water and wastewater systems of Brno, and anticipations of future investment requirements.
The objective of the technical profile is to provide technical background information necessary for the assessment of the public's acceptability of water and wastewater tariffs.
The profile is brief, and is based on data collected from available reports and discussions with utility staff.
The water and wastewater services is entrusted the BVK (Brnenské Vodárny a Kanalizace) a joint stock company owned by City of Brno (51%), Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux (39%) and minority share holders (10%). An original lease is now being renegotiated for a period of 25 years.
Important background documents for this technical profile includes annual reports and the report Proposed Price Control Formulas - Water and Wastewater (BVK), COWI & London Economics, July 1999. Furthermore, a number of meetings were held with BVK, VOV (responsible for development of the VIR project) and Brno City Administration (Department of Water and Forest Management and Agriculture, and City Hygienic Station).
3.1 Overall Service Level
Brno has about 400,000 inhabitants. Almost 100% of the population is connected to the water supply system, and about 94% are connected to the wastewater collection system.
3.2 Existing Water Supply System BriefBrno has three main sources of raw water:
 | Brezová. Groundwater of high quality. Capacity: 780-1400 l/s depending on year and season. This source provides about 1,180 l/s or 96.5% of the water supply to Brno. |
| Pisárky: Surface water from River Svratka. Capacity 680 l/s. This source only provides 43 l/s or 3.5% of the water supply to Brno. |
| Vir: Surface water from the existing Vir Reserervoir (on the Svratka River some 60 km north of Brno). Capacity 1,700 -2,300 l/s. Scheduled for taken into production in 2000. |
The groundwater is not treated except for chlorination. The surface water of Pisárky is treated in the Pisárky Water Treatment Plant, renovated some 6-7 years ago. The Vir water will be treated in the new Svarec WTP with a capacity of 2,300 l/s.
There are 32 pumping stations and 59 reservoirs in the water system, and 1,086 km of water pipes. About half of the pipe network is in dimensions > 150 mm. 77% of the pipes are of grey iron. The pipe network is rather old. 47% of the pipes are more than 30 years old, and 29% of the pipes are more than 50 years old. About 1% is even about 100 years old.
3.3 Existing Wastewater Collection and Treatment Brief
The wastewater system is mostly of the combined system, mixing sewage and stormwater. There are about 875 km of wastewater collectors, about 15 wastewater pumping stations and one mechanicalbiological wastewater treatment plant at Modrice.
The existing Modrice WWTP has a capacity of 2,500 l/s. The present load is 1,150 l/s. Sludge is disposed off on agricultural land.
3.4 Consumer Groups, Unit Water Consumption and Metering
The water consumption / water balance can be assessed at:
| • Total water production: | 109,863 m3/day; | ||
| • Total water consumption: | 86,301 m3/day, | equal to 215 lcd; | |
| • Domestic consumption: | 50,685 m3/day, | equal to 126 lcd; | |
| • Unaccounted-for-Water: | 23,562 m3/day, | equal to 21%. |
This means that the domestic consumption comprises about 58% of the consumption. The domestic unit water consumption (126 lcd) is comparable to unit demands in North-western Europe.
3.5 Water and Wastewater Operations
The water supply provides a 100% coverage of 24 hours of supply per day.
The water quality has changed in recent years. Previously the water quality of the surface water from Pisárky was poor. In 1994-95 up to 50% of the samples taken by the BVK did not fulfil the standards.
In 1997 the failure rate had improved to 4% and in 1998 it was 0%. For samples taken in the water network the water quality has likewise improved from failure rates of 25% in 1994 to < 1% in 1996-98.
With regard to wastewater effluents the failure rate (according to the current standards) has been constant at < 1% over the past 5 years.
New wastewater effluent standards have been introduced by Regulation no 82 of 22 March 1999. The new standards require stricter biological treatment (reduction of BOD) and nitrification, more strict phosphorus removal and some denitrification. The current wastewater treatment plant does not have the required capacity to provide nitrification, denitrification and biological phosphorus removal to cope with the new standards.
Annual number of recorded breakdowns is 268 per km per year, which is quite high compared to North-western Europe. The number of blockages in the wastewater network is reported at 37 per km per year, which is comparable to for instance the average for UK.
The annual rehabilitation intensity has been estimated at:
| Water pipe network: 0.9% per year, which appears on the low side, but reasonable. |
| Wastewater collection network: 0.6% per year, which also appears on the low side, but reasonable. |
3.6 Staffing and Staff Efficiency
The staff of the water and wastewater utility comprises 604 employees. Selected staff efficiency indicators are:
| • 1000 persons served per staff member: | 0.66 |
| • 1000 m3 of water sold per year per staff member: | 52 |
| • Km of water and wastewater pipes per staff member: | 3.25 |
These indicators are comparable with other CEE countries. Compared to North-western Europe, the staffing is high.
3.7 Investments
The current investments into maintenance comprises about 110 mill CZK for annual repairs (financed by BVK) and 217 mill CZK for annual reconstruction (financed by the City), in total 327 mill CZK.
The planned investments into maintenance have been forecasted at about 180 mill CZK for annual repairs and 250 mill CZK for annual reconstruction, in total 430 mill CZK in maintenance per year.
The construction costs for the new (expanded) Modrice Wastewater Treatment Plant have been estimated at 1,610 mill CZK.
Finally, it has been decided to entrust the operation of the VIR water transfer scheme to BVK. It has been assumed that water from Pisárky will be phased down to cover only a marginal percentage of the supply, simultaneously with introducing water from VIR. In 2004 it is anticipated that 20% of the water is supplied from VIR.
In connection with the new 25 years concession a study on price formula has been carried out. This report contains several scenarios for future investments and corresponding tariff levels. An implementation of Modrice WWTP would result in tariff increases of about 30-40%.
Brno, Technical Profile Summary