Waterworks with a pumping station, a well and a filtration hall

Historical Monuments

Description

The aforementioned facility includes a pumping station with a mechanic's apartment, a well building for a cumulative well and a filter hall. The pumping station is a two-storey mansonry construction in a sparing, neo-gothic style, characterized by stepped gables and an ogival portal. Right next to it, there is a roundhouse with a fountain, closed with a polygonal helmet roof. Northeast of the pumping station and the well, there is a clinker-finished filter hall, which now serves as a multi-functional room with a modern interior design.

Historical background

The first water-pipe made in wooden technology carried spring water from the Kaltenborn hills to Guben as early as around 1550. In 1563, the hydrotechnical structure located in the monastery gate was put into operation. Water from Neisse was pumped to the monastery tower with four pumps driven by water wheels. From there, water was supplied to the higher parts of the city. From 1858, cast iron pipes replaced wooden pipes. It was in operation until 1913. By demolishing the Seydellschen mill, the pumping station was also closed. Due to the proven poor quality of water from municipal and private wells, in 1892 the city council decided to build a central drinking water supply. In 1896, the construction of the municipal water supply network on Dubrau began. Initially, it was equipped with nine flat mirror wells, a hoist rope, a collecting well and a pumping station. Two elevated reservoirs on Engelmanns Berg and Easter Hill (Ger.: Osterberg) served as reservoirs for storing clean water and provided the necessary fall for the pipes. The whole building was opened on January 1, 1897, and at the end of 1897 it was put into operation.

In 1920, a second water supply line with 23 wells was connected to the existing network. From the 1920s, new drinking water quality standards required an iron removal system – it was located in the filter hall on the west side of the Neisse River. In 1940, a water supply system was opened in the city forest and a third reservoir was raised in the Ulrich hills (now Poland). After World War II, Guben retained its former waterworks, but due to the demarcation of the borders, the city no longer had water storage and pressure equalization technology. This only changed with the construction and commissioning of the first two high water reservoirs in Obersprucke. Gradually, i.e., in several stages (1951, 1965, 1975 and the 1990s), all municipal waterworks were rebuilt and modernized. After establishing Guben’s Water and Sewage Municipal Company (Ger.: Gubener Wasser- und Abwasserzweckverbandes (GWAZ)) in 1992, the city of Guben and 22 surrounding municipalities were engaged in two large-scale projects: In 1996-1997, the construction of a cross-border sewage treatment plant in Gubin, which was connected to the German main station; in 2005-2006, the Schenkendöbern waterworks were built.

The old Guben waterworks closed in June 2006.