The Hungarian city Szeged has been providing its citizens with drinking water since 1887. Back then, the first deep borehole well for drinking water was built and lined with a DN150 wooden pipe. A reconstruction of the old pipe network has included installation of AVK solutions.
From 1900, the drinking water to the citizens of Szeged was led from five wells to the first water plant in the city and from there, the water was led on by steam powered Worthington pumps to the 1,000 m3 water tower at Szent István Square. The old water tower was one of the first reinforced concrete water towers in Hungary – and it is still in operation.
The current pipe network still contains historical elements from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and about 10 percent of the network in use today were built back in the 1800s. The water supply is provided by deep wells located on a protected aquifer at a depth of 180-560 metres, and under the streets of Szeged run hundreds of kilometres of wastewater pipe system in hundred years old brick-walled canals.
The old pipe network needed a reconstruction to improve the water supply system within the city. The average daily production of drinking water in the area of Szeged is around 30-35,000 m3 produced by 85 wells and supplied by 7 water plants, 4 water towers and more that 680 km of water pipe system.
AVK International A/S has contributed to the reconstruction with more than 20 pcs of DN300 gate valves, 30 pcs of DN300 Supa Maxi™ fittings, extension spindles, surface boxes and other accessories, and in addition – for the first time in Hungary – a combi-cross with two DN300 and two DN150 outlets. The combi-cross distributes water at a junction on a conveyor line from one of the main engine rooms at the water plant to a manhole in front of the plant.
The key aspects of selecting AVK solutions for the reconstruction in Szeged was reliability, robust design, flexibility as well as the AVK solutions being perfect for even further future optimisations of the water supply network. Valves and fittings were delivered to the project in an extremely short period of time of only five weeks, even including two weeks of summer holidays.
