5,500 tons of CO₂ is not released each year because SmVaK has been using residual gas in cogeneration units and the hydro energy potential of water in small hydraulic power plants.

Ostrava, 20 April 2016. Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava decided to analyse completely impacts and greenhouse gas emissions from its business on the environment.

 It described its carbon trace pursuant to ČSN ISO 14064-1. And it will again take measures in order to reduce its carbon foot print. Such steps have proved to be efficient.

 “In order to calculate a carbon trace, SmVaK prepared guidelines the correctness and completeness of which was verified by an independent auditor, TÜV SÜD Czech s.r.o. At the same time, the calculation of the carbon foot print was verified for the reference year, 2014. SmVaK will compare its carbon traces in the future against that year”, says Martina Javorková, manager in SmVaK.

Greenhouse gases (“GHG”) which were identified in SmVaK include carbon dioxide  (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). These gases are generally described using an equivalent quantity of carbon dioxide pursuant to an international formula.

The total carbon trace is monitored in three groups. SCOPE  1 includes direct GHG emissions from consumption of fuel, natural gas, coke and light heating oil as well as methane leakage from wastewater treatment and emissions of nitrous oxide from biological reactors in water treatment plants.

SCOPE 2 includes emissions from purchase of electricity and heat. SCOPE 3 is the emissions from consumption of chemical substances, transport of sludge by third-party transport companies and nitrous oxide emissions from treated wastewater. This group also comprises the emissions from services provided by third-party suppliers.
"In 2014 it was the purchased electricity that contributed most to the carbon foot print - almost half of the released GHG emissions. Methane leakage was the reason for a quarter of the carbon footprint and six per cent were from consumption of fuel. The role played by the other factors was considerably smaller", says Javorková.

The analysis proved efficiency of the measures taken by SmVaK in generation of electricity: SmVaK has been using the hydro energy potential of water and cogeneration units in wastewater treatment plants. The analysis considered also heat from biogas which is produced in sludge systems in wastewater treatment plants. „Because SmVaK operates seven small hydraulic water plants, in 2014 it  did not produce almost 1,884 tons  CO₂ . And another 2,161,6 tons CO₂ were not produced because SmVaK generates electricity in cogeneration units. Production of heat from biogas saved another 1,428.3 tons CO₂. This proves that our measures are reasonable and we want to focus on them in the future“, says Anatol Pšenička, Managing Director of SmVaK.

SmVaK has identified three places with sufficient flow and gradient of water for construction of small hydraulic power plants. The return on investment should be less than five years. Construction of the power plants depends now on detailed economic and technical studies.

Contact:

 Marek Síbrt, spokesperson

Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava a.s.

28. října 1235/169, Mariánské Hory, 709 00 Ostrava.

tel. 725 500 509

e-mail marek.sibrt@smvak.cz
www.smvak.cz

For editors

• Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava a. s. is the largest water supply company in the Moravian-Silesian region and has been among leaders in the water supply market of the Czech Republic.
• Its core business is production and supply of drinking water as well as discharge and treatment of wastewater.
• In 2015 SmVaK produced 64,448,000 m³ of drinking water which corresponds to 129 l of billed water per capita per day. In case of water billed to households, it is 88 litres.
• SmVaK Ostrava operates 1,744 km of sewage systems in 76 towns and villages.  More than 521,000 people are connected to SmVaK’s sewage system. 111 wastewater pumping stations and 65 wastewater treatment plants are able to pump and treat 268,680 m³ wastewater each day. In 2015 SmVak Ostrava treated almost 28 million m³ of wastewater from 52,171 sewers.
• Ostrava Area Water Network (”OOV”) is the basic water production and distribution system for supplies of drinking water in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The water network consists mostly of steel pipes and is almost 500 km long. Three water processing plants with the total capacity of 4,850 litres per second treat the water from the dams in Kružberk, Morávka and Šance which are managed by the state-owned company Povodí Odry. 121 water reservoirs can store as much as 302,060 m³ water.
• The majority owner of SmVaK is Aqualia Czech S.L.