Pipera will not have easy access to water because of erratic development

The 120 million-euro turnover of Veolia Apa Nova, the company which is managing Bucharest’s water and sewer services, will remain constant within the next five years, according to the company’s general manager, Andreas Baude. Baude believes it will be problematic for new residential areas built on the outskirts of Bucharest, such as Pipera, to have easy access to running water, because they have developed erratically, with little regard for the urban development plan.
“The main reason for the turnover stagnation is the lower demand for water from Bucharest’s inhabitants. The demand has halved since 2000, and continues on a downward trend,” said Baude. Whereas in 2000, when it took over the lease contract, Veolia provided 450 litres of water/day/person, in Bucharest, at the end of 2007, consumption is now at 220 litres/day/person.
“According to our calculations, we predict consumption will stabilise in 2011, at 150 litres per/day/per/person,” forecasts Andreas Baude, who does not expect turnover to diminish proportionately with a decline in consumption, because real estate development in Bucharest is bringing increasingly more consumers to the network.
“In fact, there are two opportunities available on the market that would enable us to maintain our turnover,” explained Baude. The first would be to cut losses by improving the quality of the networks and by eliminating clandestine usage, and the second is the construction of new homes.
“Unlike other utility companies, which have long since surpassed the basic capacity of their networks, our technical capacity allows us to supply 3 million customers. At present, we have 1.67 million,” added Baude. In order to reach new customers, Baude believes almost 80 kilometres of pipes need to be laid each year, in order to supply future residential and industrial areas that are being developed around the capital. However, at present, the network lays 50-60 kilometres of pipes a year, which supply 2,500 new homes and 150,000 customers, according to calculations made by Andreas Baude.