Anyone who hasn’t received the new water price list will receive it soon. And they’ll be holding their heads

Water charges are going up. They are on different scales in different municipalities. As reported by “Rzeczpospolita”, the biggest increases were in Białystok, Łódź and Opole. In Katowice, since the end of November last year, residents have been paying PLN 17.05 for water and sewage. This year, a cubic meter of water and sewage will cost PLN 17.48 (PLN 7.43 for water, PLN 10.05 for sewage), and next year PLN 17.78 (PLN 7.53 for water, PLN 10.25 for sewage). Przemysław Ciupka, spokesman for Aquanet, the Poznań waterworks, explained the increases in an interview with “Rz” that the economic conditions for running a business have changed in recent months and that they forced the new price lists.

Water price increases

– We have recorded a sudden increase in electricity prices, the cost of servicing loans has periodically increased even tenfold, we have struggled with high inflation and growing wage pressure – enumerates Przemysław Ciupka. Currently, residents of Poznań pay PLN 5.82 per cubic meter of water and PLN 9.01 for sewage collection. The next increase in water prices awaits residents of Poznań in December. Then, water prices will increase to PLN 6.19 per cubic meter, and sewage to PLN 9.75 – he said.

In the first half of the year alone, the directors of the Regional Water Management Boards received a total of 1,119 applications in two tariff modes. Most of them concerned the approval of a new tariff, and 202 shortened the period of its validity. According to data from Wody Polskie, in 624 cases a decision was issued approving the tariff, in 95 cases there was a refusal.

According to data from the regulator, i.e. Polish Water, this year the increase in the average price per cubic metre of water was PLN 1.15, while for sewage it was PLN 2.30.

Water for a zloty. There is a proposal from the Ministry of Infrastructure

The Ministry of Infrastructure would like to introduce regulations that will lower electricity bills. The first cubic meter of water per person would cost one złoty. The next two cubic liters would be charged, but less than at present. Above this level, prices will go up. This is an incentive to save.

– Those who do not use shared water resources sparingly will have to pay more – said Przemysław Koperski, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, on Polskie Radio 24.

The deputy minister also admitted that local governments should have an influence on the prices of water supply. – Local government officials rightly argued that if they are responsible for the issue of water supply, safety and investments, they should also have an influence on the formation of tariffs. The amendment to the act provides for the transfer of this competence to the level of municipalities – said the deputy minister.

Do Poles drink tap water?

Will the Ministry of Infrastructure manage to convince Poles to drink tap water by introducing lower water prices? According to a survey conducted on behalf of “Wprost” by the SW Research research agency, only 27.5% of people drink tap water without additional filtration. Almost the same number, 26.7%, do not drink it at all. And almost half (48.5%) drink it only after filtering.

Drinking water straight from the tap is most often declared by respondents aged 35-49 (29.1% of people from this group) and those earning over PLN 7,000 net (34.1%).

Nowadays in Poland, as in most EU and other highly developed countries, tap water meets the rigorous standards of the European Union, WHO and the national Ministry of Health. We write more about this in the text below.