The History Of Kyiv Water Supply

And before that it was …

The sources of water in Kyiv in ancient times were not only the Dnipro River but also such as rivers as Pochayna, Lybid, and numerous streams and wells. Thus, residents of the lower city, Podil, used water from streams flowing down from the hills. In particular, near the famous fountain Samson in Podil the fragments of wooden pipes were found, which proves the existence of water supply here. Mainly pine wood was. Pipes were connected with metal couplings. Despite the fact that the tree was the most environmentally friendly material for transporting water, it didn’t always meet sanitary standards in those days.

From the history

Moreover, in the XIX century the city experienced a building boom, so it was very uncomfortable to lift heavy buckets of water to the upper floors. That’s when the question of centralized water supply aroused, which was opened in 1872. Talented engineer Amand Iegorovych Struve was the manager of the works. The place of water intake was located right near the monument of Magdeburg column. With the help of steam pumps, pumping stations were filled with water, then it went through sand filters, entered towers and reservoirs, and was distributed in Kyiv. But not every resident of Kyiv was able to use the water from the centralized water supply. Thus, during the first year of its existence, the length of water supply network in Kyiv was only 24 km, and the water pipes were only in 83 estates of wealthy metropolitan residents. The population of Kyiv back then totaled to 120 thousand people.

Not without problems

At first, water was purified with quality sand filters of English production. According to the specifications, the filter were to be changed 6 times a year, but it was decided to save some money, and, as a result, after a short time the people of Kyiv found out that ” quality purified” water is no different from the usual water in the Dnipro River. People began to complain to City Council. Complaints were received even in 20 years when Kyiv was partly provided by artesian water. For example, Mr. Kovalevskyi Mykola Viktorovych, a serious man, an official for special assignments of Kyiv governor-general, court counselor, on September 7, 1913 complained that in his house on Ielyzavetynska Street (modern Orlyk Street) water was absent. In his complaint, he cried out “to end bullying of plumbing society and asked to attach this statement to the bales fruitless complaints of suffering citizens”.

Today

Nowadays, the length of the water supply in Kyiv amounts to more than 4 thousand km. The city is provided from three independent sources Dniprovska and Desnianska waterworks and artesian wells. Only Palestine water filter on the Vladimir descent and restored water tower in Khreshchatyi Park remained from the first centralized water supply facilities. Time is running out, the cities are changing… Such rivers as Pochaina and Glybochytsia have already disappeared from the face of the city, and Lybid was clamped in the jaws of a concrete collector… And as in ancient times, people come to the banks of the mighty Dnipro River, which remembers all milestones of Kyiv history and even the history of city water supply.