Pardubice's brick sewer system is over 100 years old — and still in excellent shape

In the historic centre of Pardubice, a sewer system built at the turn of the 20th century is still working perfectly. The brick pipes are now more than a hundred years old, yet water utility specialists rate their condition as good.

According to Jandera, a spokesperson for the Pardubice water utility, the old brick sewers were built to a very high standard. "The egg-shaped vault has held up remarkably well, and we haven't recorded any serious problems in this section," he said. Unlike round pipes, the egg-shaped profile allows for a higher flow speed under normal water volumes, which helps the system self-clean and reduces the risk of debris buildup.

The collector running beneath the old town is so narrow and low that moving through it is extremely difficult — in practice, workers can only crawl on their knees. That's why the water utility relies on a special camera mounted on a wheeled trolley to inspect the brick sewers, capable of checking pipes ranging from 135 to 3,000 millimetres in diameter over distances of up to 300 metres. The high-resolution footage makes it possible to spot even minor defects.

Jandera noted that programs capable of automatically detecting damage in sewer networks are already in development. At the moment, camera operators still have to enter the data manually, but several companies are working on AI-based systems that will be able to scan pipes and assess their condition on their own.

Pardubice's sewer system began to take shape at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the city was grappling with a shortage of clean drinking water and an inadequate wastewater drainage system. The first sections of sewer were built gradually, but for a long time their technical condition failed to keep pace with growing hygiene standards — waste from cesspits and old pipes kept seeping into the groundwater.

The city's water mains were completed in 1907, and work to expand the sewer network continued in the years that followed. Homes and businesses were gradually connected to the water supply system, and starting in 1910 the city began charging residents for water supply and drainage services.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by ekolist.cz