140 years of public water supply in the city of Zagreb
In the courtyard of Vodoopskrba i odvodnja d.o.o., on Eleonora Patačić street, the 140th anniversary of the public city waterworks was celebrated today. The ceremony was attended by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić and his associates, member of Zagreb Holding d.o.o. Management Daniela Franić and the Director of Vodoopskrba i odvodnja d.o.o. Štefica Mihalic, with numerous employees. On this occasion, Mayor Milan Bandić presented the City of Zagreb awards to six business units of Vodoopskrba i odvodnja d.o.o., which employs 266 workers.
The history of Zagreb, its development, and its future are closely connected to finding solutions for a high-quality water supply. This is why one of the most important dates in the history of the city is 7th July 1878, when the city waterworks was officially opened with song, dance and the release of water from Manduševac. In comparison to other large cities, that was five years before Munich and only five years after Vienna. At the start of public water supply, Zagreb had around 30,000 citizens, and 11,150 were connected to the water supply network. The waterworks consisted of a well with an engine room in Zagorska street and the water reservoir in Jurjevska street, 17.5 kilometers in length. Today's urban water supply network covers 800 square kilometers with over 3,500 km of network - the city area of Samobor in the west to Vrbovec in the east and from the slopes of Sljeme in the north to the new urban settlements on the southern shore of the Sava.
From the beginning till nowadays, our fellow citizens can boast that they drink water that, due to the structure of the Sava aquifer, is of an extremely high quality and at the same time bacteriologically and chemically healthy. One cannot really put a price on this because water is more precious than gold. It is life itself so we must keep it from pollution, because that is the best we can for ourselves and for our children!
140 years of operation, with the natural resource, is primarily the merit of the employees, all those who are currently working and those we have come after. Our desire is, through successful work and mutual cooperation, leave a heritage to future generations, who will proudly look to their predecessors, as we are proud of our history today.
