Just as Prague’s Bubeneč district has a history of wastewater treatment, the history of drinking water treatment has its roots in Podolí. Up until the 19th century, water wasn’t actually treated at all, and in those days the wooden pipes carried the same water as the river. The quality wasn’t too high, though, and Prague was plagued by epidemics. The river water needed treatment, and so the first “waterworks” – water treatment plants – were built.
Today, the Podolí Waterworks is a distinctive landmark, and in its day was the largest reinforced concrete building in the former Czechoslovakia. Its architectural design is by Antonín Engel.
Podolí, on the right bank of the Vltava River, was used for water supply before the Podolí Waterworks was built. Two waterworks already stood at the site at the end of the 19th century. One of these supplied the formerly independent municipality of Vinohrady, and the other the Royal City of Prague. The only treatment process used was filtration through riverbank sand, and the water only reached the standard of “utility water”. As the city’s population grew, however, these waterworks soon couldn’t meet demand, and a different solution had to be found.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Prague’s drinking water quality improved with the construction of a new waterworks at Káraný. But after the First World War it again became clear that the Káraný waterworks wouldn’t be enough for the growing city’s needs. Attention turned back to Prague’s Podolí district, and plans for building large-scale waterworks were put into motion. The two older waterworks were no longer in a suitable state for operation, so Prague’s city councillors decided to demolish them and build a new, modern water treatment plant instead. One by one, all the other local water sources were similarly shut down.
The new Podolí Waterworks was completed in 1929 after six years of construction. Within the neoclassical style of the rest of the complex, the modern, functionalist, reinforced concrete structure known as “Engel’s Cathedral” is a stark contrast. Its parabolic arches have a span of 29 metres and are 16 metres high. Passers-by outside would probably never guess how modern the building looks inside.
... no one in Prague drinks water just from Podolí? That’s because the distribution system always mixes in drinking water from the Želivka and Káraný sources too.
If you’d like to learn more, continue to the other parts of the treatment plant...
