Notes from the history of water supply in Drohobych

In Drohobych, the first water artery started throbbing in 1931. The juice from the mountainous depths of the earth ran through the veins of the thirsty ancient town, having absorbed the shine of the sun, the purity of the sky, and the healing strength of nature... The long awaited juice of the earth saturated its body, strengthened its spirit and sent eternal life to its every cell... 

-In 1544, Polish King Zygmunt I gave Drohobych the right to build its urban water distributing system. 
-In 1868, the post of a well-tender, responsible for water supply to the town hall, was introduced onto the staff of the town council. 
In 1914, a commission of experts passed a resolution on water extraction on the territory south of the way Urizh-Sambir as being the only one suitable for the purpose. 
-The bank loan of 4 mln zloty granted for building the Urizh water pipeline in 1929 was to have been repaid by 1951. WW II prevented meeting the financial commitments. 
-May 10, 1931 - the Urizh water supply system started functioning. 
-The first manager of the Urizh water supply station Anton Chupkevych was shot in the village of Nahuievychi on June 26,1941. There the NKVS carried out the mass killing of the intelligentsia of Drohobych region. The body of the talented Industrial manager and sponsor was secretly taken to the village of Urizh. The grateful villagers buried him near the chapel he had built for the people. 
In the post war period, the Urizh water supply station was under armed guard. Every watchman had a machinegun, a submachine gun and a rifle. The guard changed ] every four hours. The last piece of weapon was given to the law enforcing bodies in 1990. 
-In the early 40s, the gas and water supply enterprise was run by engineer I. Holtzman. In 1945, he immigrated to Poland. 
The water supply enterprise began its independent functioning in late 1944 when the management of gas and water supply areas was separated. Since that time the following managers headed the plant: Z. Kindykevych, E. Safanov, P. Polovinkin, M. Knysh, A. Murashko, S. Mandzllevskyi, I. Dubkov, D. Matiichuk. Its today's director is R. Shahala.
-In June 1948, the plant's management bought three bicycles for the water linemen and the foreman. Strict requirements for their service were Imposed: the damage twice the amount of a bike's cost was to be recovered in case of its loss. The user was to repair the bicycle at his expense.
-Till the 70s, horses and bicycles were the only means of transport at the plant. 
-In 1970, the agreement on systematic laboratory water control In town and at the pump station was signed with the sanitary inspectorate. 
-In the 1950s, the management gave out first orders on water chlorination. The town's citizens were informed about it over the radio and enterprises - via telegrams. The head engineer left for Urizh and took personal control of the chlorine solution preparation process.
-In 1955, a laboratory is set up at the Urizh pump station. At the end of 1959, the laboratory began to function in Strylska St., Drohobych.
-Back at the first stages of the plant's creation, the questions of "Vodokanal" 's dependence on the power sector and the population's debts were problematic. The consumers' debts are known to have come up to 43 267 Soviet roubles in 1949. Due to the low level of the service payments, the town's water supply enterprise was facing the threat of being cut off from electricity supply and, as a result, the town could have been left without water.
-In 1950, 1 q.m. of water cost 40 Soviet copecks, the cost of 1 q.m. of treated sewage water was 20 Soviet copecks.
-In the 1950s, they started installing water meters. The order on installing water meters on the Inlet pipes to many-storied buildings was issued in 1955. The owners of private houses were recommended to acquire meters at their expense. Inspectors have been on the enterprise's staff since 1955.
-All the work during emergency repairs was done by hand. Winter was the hardest time: to start the planned work in the morning, they burnt fires the evening before to heat the frozen ground. 
- The period of 1972 - 1976 is the time of the construction of the Hime - Drohobych water supply line. 
-In the 40s of the previous century, the "Vodokanal" began Its historical development on the premises in Stryiska St. which is the gas service office at present. In 1983, the enterprise's staff moved to the newly-constructed four-storied building at 11, Yu. Fedkovych St.
-Initially the enterprise was named "Drohobych city water and sewage facility", in 1960 - the "Drohobych industrial water and sewage facility management" In 2000, It received the name of the "Drogobychvodokanal" municipal enterprise.

"... Still, but for a few exceptions, there was no pure drinking water m town. Many a time the local citizens made attempts t0 get it, - everything was in vain. Wherever they dug a well, they got only rich raw water which was good for salt extraction, but improper for drinking... Describing Drohobych at the time of his grammar schoolyears, Ivan Franko remarked that there was "no fresh water, but local salty water which strangers could not drink."
 "The value of spring water" The "Radianske Slovo" (Soviet Word) newspaper, M 159 of 09.10.1970

 "Water for the town of Drohodych is supplied from Urizh where there is a station with two pumps delivering 270 m3 of water per hour. Water from Urizh is distributed to the houses, its oversupply is stored in a reservoir in Zalissia. Very often in winter there was shortage of water, since only one pump was working because of the shrinkage in electrical power capacity. As there was no extra water in the storage reservoir, many-storied buildings lacked water. Great amounts of water froze over in houses without heating, much more water leaked due to the open hydrants and valves. That way, trying to prevent the hydrants from freezing over, careless dwellers did harm to themselves, as well as to other town citizens. Last summer, engineering works were conducted in Urizh and pipelines were laid to the brickworks, the saw mill and some private houses. This year repair work on water lines in Horishnia Brama, Zavizhna Streets is to be carried out, including major repairs in Urizh. 
There used to be 7 wells in Urizh, at present there are 11 wells. 
The water from the wells is filtered to the main collector, and from it, water is pumped to Drohobych. This year, water has been chlorinated three times to purify it and to disinfect it from the coli bacteria. 
Concerning the town's water supply system, it is quite satisfactory and meets the major technical requirements." 
"Municipal enterprises of the town of Drohobych" The "Drohobytske Slovo" (Drohobych Word) newspaper, # 42 of 10.04.1942 

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