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One of main problems that exploiting water supply network companies have to
deal with is a secondary contamination of water transported by a distribution
system. That problem has escalated after the political system transformation in
1989, which turned out to be typical for Central and East Europe countries. In
this paper, selected causes and the scale of this phenomenon is shown. Attention
was paid to the evolutionary changes which have occurred in water supply
networks through last 20 years. At first, oversizing of water supplied networks
was assumed as the main reason of the recontamination, as a result of an
essential decrease of industrial and individual customer’s water demand.
Gradually, other factors were noticed, such as a dynamic increase of exploited
water supply pipe’s length and material’s influence. As additional factors, the
authors also acknowledge results of actions taken in order to raise water supply
enterprises efficiency – especially with connecting small, local networks into
group systems.
Presented considerations and analysis were based on an available domestic
literature and survey research undertaken in Polish water supply companies in
the years 2010–2012. The authors also present exemplary results of their own
research, realized in selected water supply systems of different sizes. This
research illustrate an influence of the pipes’ material (PVC and PE), but also the
unwelcome effects of connecting local water supply networks into one group
system.
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