Water Prices in CEE and CIS Countries. Volume II: Case Studies
Chapter 3.
Technical Profile
The following chapter and the "Poznan Technical Profile" table in Appendix 2 comprise a brief technical profile of the water and wastewater systems of Poznan, and anticipations of future investment requirements. Refer to Appendix 3 for a list of reports used.
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 water utility staff.
The water and wastewater services are entrusted the Poznanskie Wodociagi i Kanalizacja Sp. z o.o. (PWiK), a limited liability company 100% owned by the City of Poznan. A restructuring process is in progress, where the aim is to have private sector participation through concession.
3.1 Overall service levelPoznan has about 578,000 inhabitants. PWiK serves not only Poznan but also cities south, east and north of Poznan through interlinked systems: Lubon, Puszczykowo, Mosina, Swarzedz, Czerwonak and Murowana Goslina. The total population in the service area is 678,000 persons. The water supply coverage is assessed at 97%.
With regard to the wastewater system, the PWiK serves essentially the same area as for water supply and the coverage is about 85% (94% in Poznan city). There are three separate wastewater systems: (i) Poznan, Lubon, Swarzedz and part of Czerwonak, (ii) Mosina and Pouzczykowo, and (iii) Murowana Goslina and part of Czerwonak.
3.2 Existing water supply systemPoznan utilises groundwater, mainly through infiltration systems along the Warta River. The groundwater is treated to remove iron and manganese, as the raw water content of iron and manganese is too high, and the water is further chlorinated. The water quality, after treatment, fulfils current standards. The current water quality at consumer level is generally high, with only a limited number of samples exceeding the standards (about 2% of the chemical samples and 1% of the bacteriological samples). This means that the iron content increases in the network due to the networks ferrous pipes. It should be noted that the current Polish standard for iron is 0.5 mg/l; in the future the EU standard of 0.2 mg/l will have to be fulfilled.
The system has sample storage.
The water network is comprised of 1,122 km of water pipes, and 352 km of connections. About 3 /4 of the pipe network have dimensions < 250 mm. More than half of the pipes are of cast iron, and about 30% are plastic. The pipe network is relatively new, only about 32% of the pipes are more than 30 years old and approximately 16% of the pipes are more than 50 years old.
3.3 Existing wastewater collection and treatment
The wastewater system is comprised of 901 km of sewers, including 242 km of connections. The system is basically a separate system (only 25% of the pipes form a combined system).
The wastewater system is comprised of four systems and five wastewater treatment plants. The main Poznan system has two wastewater treatment plants, the Centralna (COS) and the Lewobrzezna (LOS) plants.
The largest plant (COS) is under modernisation. The new capacity will be 200,000 m3/day and the plant will provide MB treatment with some nutrient removal (effluent criteria is 30 mg Tot-N/l. Tot-P criteria is 1.5 mg/l. The second largest plant (LOS) is a MC plant with a present load of 48,000 m3/day.
3.4 Consumer groups, unit water consumption and meteringThe water balance has been estimated by VA-Projekt as follows:
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117,416 m 3 /day; 246 lcd; 143 lcd; 62 lcd equal to 20%. |
This means that the domestic consumption comprises about 58% of the total consumption. The domestic unit water consumption (143 lcd) is comparable to unit demands in North-western Europe. The UfW is not excessive.
3.5 Water and Wastewater OperationsThe water supply provides 100% coverage of 24 hours supply per day at a design pressure of minimum 5 m. Reportedly only a few minor areas face pressure problems.
As mentioned above, the water leaving the water treatment plants fulfils applicable water quality standards, and only a few samples, which reach the consumers exceed the standards. The most frequent parameter for non-fulfilment are iron, manganese, turbidity and colour, and to a minor degree bacteriological parameters. This means that the water quality changes in the network, mainly due to the ferrous materials (with regard to the chemical parameters) and due to polluted reservoirs or leaks (with regard to the bacteriological parameters).
The number of recorded breakdowns is 42 per km per year for water pipes (115 per km per year if connection pipes are included) which is lower than, for instance, Brno, and much lower than for most CIS countries, but much higher than, for instance, in Scandinavia.
The number of blockages in the wastewater network is 280 per km per year, which is quite high (eg. six times the average for UK); and substantially higher than, for instance, Brno.
The annual rehabilitation intensity has been estimated at:
 | Water pipe network: 0.9% which appears on the low side, but reasonable. The number of failures appear to be high compared to a corrosion condition assessment made during the Technical Audit. This corrosion assessment suggests that 8% of all iron pipes (ie about 73 km of pipes) have through-thewall corrosion and need to be replaced. It is estimated that a further 0.3% of the pipes will become fully corroded per year; |
| Wastewater collection network: 0.2%, which also appears on the low side, but reasonable. CCTV inspections have begun but only a limited part (< 5%) of the network has been inspected. The Technical Audit suggests that 42 km of wastewater collectors (6%) are to be upgraded within 5 years. |
The staff of the water and wastewater utility comprises 998 employees. Selected staff efficiency indicators are:
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0.68 57 2.03 |
These indicators are comparable with other CEE countries. Compared to North-western Europe the staffing is high.
3.7 InvestmentsThe firm Aqua has, in 1996, outlined an investment programme for PWiK, but it is based on demographic and water demand projections which have become outdated. Furthermore, the investment programme anticipates a severe present condition of the water and wastewater networks. In connection with the preparation of a concept paper for the restructuring of Posnan water and wastewater company in 1998, some preliminary adjustments to the investment programme were proposed, without actually making detailed technical assessments.
Finally, a full technical review has been made by VA Projekt.
The investment programmes are summarized in the following table; all figures in Mill USD:
Table 3.1:
Investment Programmes
According to discussions with PWiK, the annual "internal" investments for 1999 and 2000 are about 40-50 mill PLN/yr. (10 mill USD/yr.). It should be noted that the City finances most development investments, for instance 85% of the Central WWTP, scheduled for completion ultimo 2000.
The completion of the Central WWTP will result in increased O&M costs notably for power supply and general maintenance of the 350 mill PLN investment (this has been taken into account in the financial model of Booz-Allen & Hamilton).
The overall tariff increases for various levels of investments have been assessed in the financial model of Booz-Allen & Hamilton. The results are illustrated in Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1:
Relationship between medium term investments and resulting tariff increases, Poznan
1998 - 2005.
With regard to the required investments for water pipe renovation, it appears that the Technical Audit recommendations will result in investment levels closest to the Booz-Allen estimates. It is consequently anticipated that the level of investments of the Technical Audit will be of the same order as those of the Booz-Allen & Hamilton estimates, ie at about 50 mill USD for the period 1998-2005. This means that we are at the lower end of the curve shown above, say at about a 20% increase in tariffs.
If the PWiK were to the finance full cost of completion of the COS WWTP (estimated 44 mill USD by Booz-Allen), the 1998-2005 investments will be about 100 million USD, and the tariff increases will be up to 60%.
The current level of PWiK investments of about 10 mill USD annually will require an approximate 20% increase in tariffs (one time).