Bespoke pipes benefit Czech plant

The capacity and technology of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for the city of Brno had long been inadequate for the 400,000 inhabitants of the Czech Republic's second largest city. Austrian pipe manufacturer Hobas's local sales representative, Ji í Vajdík, reports on the reconstruction and extension of the 1960s plant that was first planned in 1990.


The Brno rehabilitation project was prepared by Austrian consultants Schueffl & Forsthuber Consulting. Austrian pipe manufacturer Hobas’ centrifugally-cast glass-fibre reinforced plastic (CC-GRP) pipe systems were then installed for the rehabilitation of the main sewer in Brno. The contractor, BVaK of the Czech Republic, was very content with Hobas he decided together with the investor to utilise the same systems for the reconstruction of the WWTP as well.

It was necessary to find a system that shows high resistance to aggressive substances. Another condition was the availability of custom-made piping components such as T-pieces, F-pieces and reductions so that the WWTP could be rehabilitated under operating conditions.

From the beginning, Hobas Czech Republic cooperated with Aquatis, a Czech water engineering company. A lot of individual solutions were borne within this cooperation. During the 30-month reconstruction period, 3.5km of Hobas SewerLine were installed by open trench, reaching completion in 2004.

In September Hobas announced a ¬3 million investment in a new factory floor, new machinery and technologies at Hobas Pipes Austria in Carinthia to produce elaborate custom-made components.

“We are now able to offer our customers complete system solutions from our own production plant”, said managing director Peter Scharmann. “Our staff is highly qualified with a lot of experience in various pipe applications. This was an additional reasons for us to extend the plant.”

About 50% of the pipe systems produced in Carinthia are exported. The main markets are Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

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