WATER
PIK Sp. z o.o. operates Pszczyna`s water-pipe networks supplying water to 11,000 customers. The water comes partly from our own deep water intakes and in part from the intakes of the Upper Silesian Water-pipe Network Company in Katowice located at the Goczałkowice and Czaniec dam reservoirs.
In August 2000, the municipalised Regional Water-pipe and Sewerage Company in Tychy handed over to the Commune of Pszczyna assets in the form of water-pipe and sewerage networks. The Commune of Pszczyna, in turn, transferred them as non-cash contributions to PIK Sp. z o.o. The assets have been depreciated by our company since September 2000.
After a few months` operation it turned out that the level of water losses in those networks was as high as 47%. The company could not accept the fact that such losses were present.
The Management Board commissioned a specialist company from Warsaw to carry out monitoring of the networks operated by PIK. This was done in order to detect any possible leak points. Thanks to specialist detection devices it was possible to locate over ten hidden faulty network points, of which only one caused significant water losses.
After all the detected faults were corrected, the level of water losses dropped to 44%.
Following that the Management decided on further action in order to determine the cause of such significant losses. A detailed analysis was made in which the list of customers was compared with the list of concluded contracts. This action resulted in a further fall to 41%.
As this was still unacceptable we decided to check another factor that influences the volume of water losses, namely the accuracy of measurement of water supplied to customers. A study of the age and technical condition of the water meters revealed that 95% of them are more than 5 years old (the standard allows a 5 year period of operation without a verification test or replacement.)
The types of water meters used had too high minimal flow rates (did not register measurements in certain ranges). Following a market study a water meter manufacturer was found whose water meters were sensitive to flow of > 1 litre/hour. A trial batch with different diameters was purchased. After their installation at selected customer locations it was found that on average water meter readings were higher by 20% in comparison with the previously used meters.
The trials were the basis for the Management`s decision to replace most of the water meters in the Commune of Pszczyna.

An investment project is also being prepared to replace most of the water-pipe network sections. The cost of this investment is going to be about PLN 12,000,000.
The Company is looking for financial partners to complete this project.

SEWERAGE SYSTEM
We operate a sanitary sewerage network with a system of zone intermediate pumping stations located in the villages of Wisła Wielka, Wisła Mała and Łąka including a mechanical and biological treatment plants in Wisła Wielka. We also operate a combined sewerage system in Pszczyna including some small housing estate treatment plants.