History The history of the Petersburg’s centralized water supply goes back to 10 October, 1858, when the Charter of “St. Petersburg Water Pipelines Joint-Stock Company” was approved by Alexander II Among the founders of the Joint-Stock Company were engineers, such as A.N. Erakov, P.I. Palibin, A.A. Peretz, E.I. Okel, and big businessmen – I.I. Glazunov, M.I. Yakunchikov, I.N. Kushinnikov. 1858 – 1917
The JSC faced huge financial and technical problems at the initial stage. In early 1863, the construction of water networks practically stopped. By then, the water tower in Shpalernaya st. (architects I.A. Merz and E. Shubersky) had been built and several kilometers of water distribution networks had been laid. The JSC’s registered capital was spent, the shares sold badly, and even the government subsidy could not alter the situation. In March 1863, the 1 Guild merchant A.I. Kron from St. Petersburg joined the JSC, contributed the lacking sum (approximately, 900,000 Roubles) and took up completion of the long-drawn works. Water supply to the first customers started by the end of 1863. Some modifications were made to the initial design during the construction period. At first, it was decided to take water from a sort of a “ladle” – the artificial water body near Tavrichesky Palace connected with the Neva. However, the “ladle” proved to be unsuitable for this purpose, and the JSC had to arrange water intake from the Neva. Before mid-1870s, the water network was only used by the citizens on the left-bank side. The new joint-stock company (Partnership) was established in 1873 (to be managed by English contractors) to supply water to Peterburgskaya (Petrogradskaya) and Vyborgskaya areas and Vasilyevsky Island. In 1890 the State Duma took a decision to buy out the assets owned by the St. Petersburg Water Pipelines Joint-Stock Company, and in 1892 – to buy out also the assets of the New Water Networks Partnership. The City Executive Commission for water supply of St. Petersburg was established to manage the water networks and was subordinated to the city administration. The manager of municipal water networks was appointed on a submission from the Chairman of the Executive Commission. During the first decades of the centralized water supply operation in St. Petersburg all customers received water which passed only primary mechanical treatment. In 1889 sand filters were put into operation at the Main Waterworks (the filters had been built by the St. Petersburg Water Pipelines Joint-Stock Company) as demanded by the city authorities. In 1911 the filtration station with water ozonation was built in Peterburgskaya (Petrogradskaya) area. Chlorine disinfection of drinking water was implemented at the Main Waterworks (the first chlorination experiments were made in Kronstadt in 1909). The Executive Commission for sewerage construction and water supply rehabilitation in St. Petersburg established by the City Duma had worked since 1911 and took over most of the functions in relation to water supply development. Communist period
World War I and the Civil War had a negative impact on the technical condition of the city’s water supply system, including its plants, equipment and networks. In 1920s-early 1930s wood pipes had to be used sometimes for construction of water networks due to the lack of more suitable materials. It was only by 1935 that the pre-revolution level of water supply to the city network had been reached. However, there were also some achievements at that time. First of all, construction of the Southern Waterworks (stage I was put into operation in 1933, a part of stage II – in 1940) and modernization of the Main Waterworks treatment facilities should be mentioned. In 1923–1924 construction of sewer networks was resumed. In 1925 the city authorities approved the major sewerage plans for Leningrad (separate system with four independent sewer basins). Vasilyevsky Island was selected as experimental district for the construction of a new sewerage system. Construction of sewers in Vasilyevsky Island (total length of street networks – 153.3 km) had lasted for 10 years. Vasileostrovskaya sewage pumping station was completed by 1930. Wastewater was discharged to the Neva Bay without any treatment. In the 1930s more and more sewers were built in other city districts. The length of sewer networks in Leningrad reached 1130 km which exceeded the pre-revolutionary level more than twice. In 1940 a new sewerage scheme of Leningrad was adopted. It was also based on a separate sewerage system. The scheme envisaged mechanical treatment and precipitation followed by discharge to four waterways of the Neva Bay. Stormwater was to be discharged to all watercourses in the city. It was planned to use the tunneling method to build the main sewers. A special page in Vodokanal’s history is related to World War II and the blockade of Leningrad. The waterworks and facilities, clean water tanks, treatment plants, water networks and sewers were subject to intensive bombing and shelling. As many as 955 shells exploded within the area of the Southern WTP alone. The personnel of the most important facilities were put on a war footing. Destruction of networks caused the flooding of basements, streets and squares and sometimes even the whole city districts. Nevertheless, both the city water networks and the sewerage system were working without interruption except 25-26 January 1942 when the electricity supply was cut off. Over the period between 1950 and 1970 the annual average water supply to the city has grown more than twice – from 912,800 m3 to 2,057,600 m3. The Southern WTP stage II was put into operation in 1948, Volkovskaya WTP – in 1964, and the Northern WTP stage I – in 1971. Wide-scale construction of water pumping stations was underway too. In 1952 the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved the project of sewerage construction in the central part of Leningrad where a combined sewerage system was proposed instead of separate sewerage. The first stage of sewerage in the city centre including the Main Pumping Station was put into operation in 1958. In 1966 the General Scheme of Leningrad Sewerage was approved which included, among other things, three big complexes of wastewater treatment facilities. The first one – Central WWTP – was put into operation in 1978 (stage I). Before that, all city wastewater was discharged to the water bodies almost without any treatment. The Central WWTP, stage II, was put into operation in 1984, and the Northern WWTP, stage I, – in 1987. The construction of the South-West WWTP started in 1986. Contemporary history
In the 1990s, SUE "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg" developed and implemented a novel-for-Russia concept of strategic planning of the public utilities’ financial operations and business. Creation of a management system based on the corporate development planning was a crucial step to implementation of this concept in the company. It is the implementation of the strategic planning concept that ensured sustainable development of SUE "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg". In 1992 the company was able to become self-sufficient and raise the necessary investments for reconstruction and development. In 2004, the St. Petersburg Water and Wastewater Systems Reconstruction and Development Programme for 2004-2011 was worked out. The South-West WWTP was inaugurated on 22 September 2005 in the presence of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, the President of Finland Tarja Halonen and the Swedish Prime-Minister Göran Persson. Alongside with the construction of new facilities using the best advanced technologies, wide-scale reconstruction of the existing WWTPs was implemented. By 2006, three “hot spots” in the Baltic Sea catchment basin have been eliminated. The reconstruction of the Central WWTP in 2007 made it possible to meet, and even surpass the HELCOM standards of nutrient concentrations. Following the commissioning of two new sludge incineration plants – at the Northern WWTP and South-West WWTP – in 2007, St. Petersburg became the first megalopolis to fully solve the problem of sewage sludge utilization. In 2008 Vodokanal St. Petersburg celebrated its 150th anniversary. Start-up of the first section of the Northern Sewer extension was one of the most important events of the jubilee year. In 2009 Vodokanal marked 20 year of cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment of Finland. The conference “The Baltic: Common Sea, Common Concern” was devoted to this anniversary. The official ceremony of removing the last chlorine container from the Northern WTP area was held in June 2009: it symbolized that Vodokanal stopped to use liquid chlorine for water disinfection having substituted it with hazard-free sodium hypochlorite. |
GUP «Vodokanal Ñàíêò-Ïåòåðáóðãà» © 2009
Ñàéò ðàçðàáîòàí àãåíòñòâîì «2PR»
Ñàéò ðàçðàáîòàí àãåíòñòâîì «2PR»