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History

WATER SUPPLY IN THE OLD LAZAR TOWN

The organized supply of Kruševac and its surroundings with water dates from the middle of the 20th century. Centuries ago, the citizens of Kruševac drank water from wells and fountains that they built in their yards or were raised by local authorities on municipal land.
"Lupus fountain" - the earliest sources, according to tradition, are the oldest fountains in this area that relates to the Roman period. They were located next to the main road that led through the West-Moravian Valley from Niš, through Stalać to the Ibar highway. The same route was later used to create new sources.


Prince Lazar arrived in Kruševac before the Turkish invasion around 1371 and raised a military fortress: a small town with a courtyard and a fortress church and a group of buildings surrounded by towers. Outside the fortifications, in today's Old Bazaar, there was a suburb with craft shops and shops.

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As Kruševac, as the capital of Serbia, developed and expanded, the needs of its population grew. And the most important, of a fateful importance, was the need for water. With the help of educated people, both domestic and foreign, gathered at Lazarev castle, a pioneering venture to build waterworks was launched. According to the principle "five pipes on the same wire", a functional water supply system has been created.
It is believed that the first water supply could satisfy the needs of the inhabitants and defenders of Lazar Town. This was because the courtiers and the military crew in the fort used a rich source that was located below the foundations of the Don Žon Tower. Its water now stands out in the reservoir on the northern side of the Old Town, today's Archaeological Park.


Water supply from the XV to the middle of the XX century


During the Ottoman rule (from 1427), Kruševac lost its earlier importance and shared the fate of all enslaved cities in Serbia. Having received the new name Aladža Hisar (Colorful city), according to the colourful stone from which the fortress was built and Lazar tower, for a time, it was a strategic center where the cannons for Turkish conquests in Europe were made.

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And only after the liberation from the Turks (1833), thanks to the favorable geographical position, Kruševac began to develop more rapidly, in order to create an economic base for a more powerful economic and cultural progress later on. At that time, in the second half of the XIX and the first decades of the twentieth century, the first workshops for the production of soap, barut, blue stone and repair of railway wagons were built in it (the precursors of the famous companies: Merima, Obilićevo, Župa, 14. October "), and the first educational and health institutions were opened: gymnasium, reading room, pharmacy.


In this too long period, although the number of inhabitants in the city increased, the way of water supply was not substantially changed. Citizens supplied supplies of drinking water and other household and hygiene needs exclusively from wells and so-called. "Turkish fountains", which were deployed, at a distance of about one kilometer, along the streets of Car Lazar and Jug Bogdan, then the main road traffic.


Of the five preserved "Turkish fountains", the most interesting is the Great Fountain, located in the Old Town, just below the Archaeological Park. The material from which it was built and its appearance originated from the Ottoman times, as evidenced by the inscription in Turkish. From these and other fables built in the Middle Ages, until the middle of the last century, "saxaxies" distributed water within the towns by sakas and sold it to citizens. Today these old fountains are interesting monuments of importance for the historical past of this city.

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Establishment and operation of the company "Hygiene"


By moving the city center from the Old Town to a higher and healthier terrain (to the area that is now taking place), Kruševac gained a new impulse of development. However, since it did not have an urban plan or a project for the construction of the water supply system, and the need for a larger amount of water has grown, several years after the liberation from the German occupiers began the construction of a temporary water supply system, which brought water from "Turkish fountains" to the users. Considering that the total capacity of the existing fountains was about thirty liters per second, in 1952, 100 new fountains were erected, distributed along the intersections in the city. The construction, operation and maintenance of the temporary water supply system were entrusted to the company "Hygiene", which built new pipes and connected pipelines in the temporary water supply system.


The construction of a water supply project for a permanent supply of water to the city was begun in 1954 and it was completed three years later, after the adoption of the first version of the Master Urban Plan. The water supply project has been done by the Studio for Urbanism, Architecture and Hydrotechnics from Belgrade. It was planned to supply the city with water from three wells, dug up before the Second World War, which water was used by the Military Chemical Industry "Ravnjak". According to the bacteriological and chemical analysis, performed by the Hygienic Institute in Kruševac, it was found that this water is "quite hard, but usable".

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Investigation hydrological works, for the purpose of determining the water capacity in wells, were performed by the company "Belgrade Watersupply Company" under the supervision of the Department of Public Utility Works of the Municipality of Kruševac. Based on these studies, a capacity of 26 liters per second was determined per well. Since this was insufficient, and in order to provide a total of 104 liters of water per second, it was planned to build another well. For the realization of this project, a direct group without the status of a legal entity under the name "Institution for construction of water supply and sewerage" was formed by NOO Krusevac, by Decision No. 10547/57.

HISTORY


Establishment of the Water Supply Company


In the year 1957, when the Water Supply and Sewerage Institution was established, in the formal and legal sense it marks the year of establishment of the Public Utility Company "Vodovod-Kruševac". From then on, the company continues to develop in stages, change, depending on internal needs and opportunities in the society, organization of work and form of organization.


The first stage of the Company's development starts in 1957 with the construction of a reinforced concrete water reservoir in Bagdala, volume of 2.800 m3, as well as by raising two collectors according to the sewage project: the main one for drainage of sewage and waste water and the other one collectors.


During 1957 and 1958, a pumping station was built at a source in Čitluk and a pipeline to the reservoir in Bagdala of 2,800 m3, as well as 58 km of distribution network. This project covers the center and newly built parts of the city and street, the industry "October 14" and "Miloje Zakić", as well as some smaller economic facilities.

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In January 1959, two of the three existing wells were connected to the grid, and most of the network is connected to the main water supply system.


In 1960, another reinforced concrete well was started, which increased the capacity of water to 26 l / s, but it was still far from projected at 104 l / s.


In January 1961, based on the proposed technical service solution, NOO Kruševac concluded a Contract with the Serbian Institute of Hygiene for the development of a project for the reconstruction of the spring, which was completed in mid-1962.


In 1963, the protection of the spring on a surface of about 25 hectares was formed, and in 1964 three new infiltration basins were built. In parallel with the construction of the facility at the water supply source, the distribution and sewage network was expanded, which length at the end of 1964 was 21.5 km of water supply and 14.8 km of sewerage network. For this, the existing pumping station of abandoned irrigation system in the West Morava was used. Near it sedimentation tanks were built with addition of aluminum sulfate, and the water was cleared, and then it was brought to the inflator basins, which were dug at the source in Čitluk. In addition to the basin, new wells were dug, and beside the old one, a new pumping station, 110kW, was built, as well as a new pressure pipeline to the Bagdala reservoir. The construction of the sedimentation tanks, new wells, new pumping stations and new pressure pipelines lasted from 1976 to 1979, and at that time the actual capacity of the source was 250 l / s.

For the construction of a system that would satisfy not only the current needs of Kruševac and the environment for water, but for the next 30 years, about 15 million dinars were invested. The first phase of the reconstruction work was completed in 1977 and the second in 1978, which provided new 50 liters of water per second, which increased security in the city's supply of water and enabled the suburban settlements to be connected to the city water supply.

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Establishment of the accumulation lake in Ćelije


In 1976, PUC "Vodovod-Kruševac", in agreement with the Municipality of Kruševac, concluded a Contract with "Energoprojekt" from Belgrade for the preparation of a "Study for long-term water supply of city and suburban settlements".


"Energoprojekt" was given the task of studying and proposing one of the following possibilities: the water source from the underground of the Koševi - Globoder area; source from the accumulation "Ćelije" on the Rasina River and the source from smaller accumulations on the surface flows of the northern slopes of Jastrebac (Lomnička, Petinska and Srndaljska rivers). In May 1977, after the completion of the study, a third variant was selected, due to the assessment that it would get the best quality drinking water. In addition, this water source is considerably larger than the needs of that time (in 1977) and could satisfy all water users by 2025, and has a high level of safety.

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In June 1977, at the meeting of the representatives of the Municipality of Kruševac, the company "Water and Sewerage", "Energoprojekt" and the Water Fund of SR Serbia, the proposed variant was not accepted, but it was agreed to continue hydrological research, and subsequently to make a final decision. A few years before the design of the study for long-term water supply began, a dam on the Rasina River began (May 1, 1973), on the 23 km of Krusevac-Brus road, whose primary purpose was to protect the downstream area from floods and deposits, for irrigation of the fields in the river valley, as well as for the production of electricity (the possibility of building a hydroelectric power plant of about 8 megawatts is left). The fact that in that year (1975) a self-proclamation was issued by which the citizens of Kruševac and the workers' organization announced that in the next three years (from June 1, 1978 until June 30, 1981) they will provide funds for the establishing of a water system - the accumulation "Ćelije" and the water factory in Majdevo - all the competent factors for resolving the issue of long-term water supply at the General Assembly of the Municipality of Kruševac (December 12, 1978) approved another variant, that is, to use the water source from the accumulation lake "Ćelije".

Construction of the dam, which involved thousands of brigadiers of the Youth Work Action "Morava", lasted for five years (1973-1978). For the dam and accumulation, in the area which is now under water, 480 hectares of land were excavated, 180 households were evicted, 292 houses with 431 auxiliary buildings were pulled down or demolished, and three village cemeteries were moved.

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With this remarkable creation, a geographical map was changed, because 7.5 km of roads were crossed between the villages Majdevo and Razbojna, which previously went along the old river bed, while now winding the shores of the new lake. The accumulation capacity is 60 million cubic meters of water, it is 11 kilometers long, and when it is full, it reaches a width of up to 800 meters. The dam itself, as a little masterpiece of construction, is nicely shaped and represents not only an effective but also an extraordinary building, whose overlay is unique, as if it had been from ancient times and that nature had created it. Although it is close to a seismitic Kopaonik area, which was taken into account when designing and lifting, the dam behaved to the satisfaction of its creators.
The work on the completion and preservation of works on dams and reservoirs passed in 1981 from the Republic Self-Governing Interest Community to the Republic SIZ Water Management. The Municipality of Kruševac was relieved of its obligation to participate in the construction of dam and reservoir, but it undertook the obligation and care for the implementation of sanitary protection (decision of the Municipality of Kruševac Number. 01325-127 / 81, dated 24 June 1981).


PUC "Vodovod-Kruševac" has undertaken to take care about the protection of dam and accumulation from damage and pollution. The Program of measures for the sanitary protection of the accumulation "Ćelije" (1984) was adopted, adopted by the Assembly Councils of the Municipalities of Kruševac, Brus, Aleksandrovac and Blace, since they are the future users of the water from the lake. With this program, in addition to other measures, it is foreseen that the source is to be fenced, the lake is not used for swimming and boating, and all that does not jeopardize the quality of the water accumulation. It is forbidden to transport hazardous substances along the road that runs along the lake, such as: pesticides, herbicides and the like, which could damage the cleanliness of lake water in the event of an accident.


At the dam and around it there are guards, and in the control building, from one place, through the devices and equipment for remote control and supervision, the flow and flow of water are controlled, ie the mode of charging and discharging of the accumulation.
When we talk about accumulation, it is important to point out that the investor of the construction of the dam was the Republic Water Management Self-Governing Interest Community of SR Serbia, the investment services and supervision were performed by the Water Management Organization "Velika Morava", Belgrade, and the subcontracting works were performed by:


• Water management organization "Palanka", Smederevska Palanka (dam),
• "Tunelogradnja", Belgrade (optical tunnel),
• "Geoinženjering", Sarajevo ,
• Work Organization "Hydroenergetics", Belgrade

• "Mostogradnja", Belgrade (bridges),
• Institute "Kirilo Savic", Belgrade (hydromechanical and electrical equipment),
• Building work organization "Pobeda", Blace (relocation of the settlement),
• "Goša", Smederevska Palanka (mechanical equipment),
• PZP "Kragujevac" - OOUR "Gradnja", Krusevac (relocation of the road).


Control of material installation and laboratory testing was carried out by the Center for Mechanics and Funding of the Institute for Material Testing of SR Serbia.
Today dam and accumulation "Ćelije" is owned by the state and are entrusted with the management of the Public Water Management Company "Srbija vode", and are under the jurisdiction of the Water Management Center "Morava" from Niš, which has a supervisory role, while PUC "Vodovod-Kruševac" takes care of their keeping and regular maintenance.

Construction of the Water Factory in Majdevo


The hydro-accumulation basin in Serbia in 1977 was declared as one of the types of water resources for communal needs and economy. The Law on exploitation and protection of water supply sources and the Basis of long-term water supply of the population and industry in the territory of the Republic of Serbia without provinces, from 1977, includes 30 basins with an area of ​​about 10,000 km2. It was planned to build 15 regional and interregional systems based on surface water and two regional systems based on the underground water of the alluvial Drina, Sava and Danube.

At the same time, based on the assessment that the water supply of the city of Kruševac is unsatisfactory, and based on the expected increase in water consumption, Communal Organization Rasina, Water and Sewerage from Kruševac, in 1976 from Energoprojekt Hidroinženjering, commissioned a study on Supplying water to the town of Kruševac which was completed in 1977. The study has worked extensively on three variants of the future source: the water from the underground of the Koševi-Globoder, the hydro accumulation of Ćelije on the Rasina River, whose dam was built at that moment, and potential small accumulations on Srndaljska, Lomnička and Petinska river on the northern slopes of Jastrebac . Ćelije Lake was selected with the basic argument that the construction of its dam is at the end.

The construction of the Water Factory, ie the Water Treatment Plant in Majdevo, began in 1979 and was completed in 1982. It was the last word of the technique and at the time it was one of the most modern of its kind in the country. As more constructors took part in the construction of the dam on the lake, there were more participants in the building of the Water Factory in Majdevo. By building a reservoir lake and raising the Water Factory, not only a powerful water system for long-term water supply of Kruševac and its surroundings has been created, but also all technical-technological preconditions for expansion of the water supply and sewage network.

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The water supply network is expanded gradually, in accordance with the investment program. As a sufficient amount of water from the reservoir was provided, a network system for unhindered distribution should be adapted. Thus, a plan for the long-term development of the city system was developed, tanks were built, and the construction of the water supply network has expanded considerably year after year.
30,214 water meters are connected to the water supply network today. The length of the water supply network is over 850 km.

 

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