Water Management

The Czech Republic has taken many steps to secure water cleanness and its protection since 1989. A number of new waste water treatment plants were built – in cities, villages as well as in factories. Modern water management and cleaning technologies have been used and strict standards on the protection of water and water courses have been adopted. Agriculture has contributed to an improvement in the condition of water mainly by using fewer chemical and organic fertilizers. 

In 2015, 9.93 million inhabitants (94.2%) were supplied with drinking water by water supply systems. The average household consumption is about 88 litres per person per day. The quality of the drinking water supplied ranks among the best in Europe.

The concept of the further development of the water supply and sewerage up to 2015 is presented in the Plan of the Development of Water Supply and Sewerage for the territory of the Czech Republic. The plan is fundamental for the utilisation of EU funds and national financial resources for the development of the infrastructure of the water supply and sewerage system. In 2015 a subsidy amounting to approx. CZK 1.2 billion was granted within the framework of the Ministry of Agriculture programmes.

The high increase in the proportion of treated waste water is due to the intensive building of new waste water treatment plants and intensification of the existing ones. By this, the obligations resulting from Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste-water treatment and waste water quality have been met.

The tendency shown has a very positive impact on the quality improvement of surface water into which the treated waste water is discharged. This is the reason why the number of very polluted stretches of watercourses have decreased in the last 15 years (in classes IV and V of water pollution). In 2015, 84.2% of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic lived in houses connected to sewerage systems. A total of 445.5 million m³ of waste water was discharged into sewerage systems. Of this volume, 97% of waste water was treated.