According to mno.hu, you can get fresh drinking water from hydrants in the cooperation of the Budapest City Image Nonprofit Kft, the Municipality of Budapest, the Budapest Waterworks Zrt and Drinking Tap Project in 43 point within a few days.

The first drinking tap was inaugurated on Wednesday afternoon on Szomory Dezso Square, which was ordered by the above mentioned companies from the Drinking Tap Project. The additional taps will be placed, according to the press conference, in a few days. They will be on conspicuous and easily accessible hydrants within the boulevard on the Pest side and along the Danube on the Buda side.

Livable capital

“When we are talking about developments in Budapest, we often think of road renovations, metro developments, building reconstructions, and often forget that not the grandiose projects are the most important in terms of making our life more livable” – opened the press conference Deputy Mayor for human policy area Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky and then she added: “it may be smaller in size and costs, but those and similar ideas contribute to that we in Budapest feel better ourselves in our own city.”

Csaba Haranghy, CEO of Budapest Waterworks Zrt. said he was supportive of the idea even at the outset, because it is a good publicity not just for the capital, but for the waterworks as well that the thirsty can drink high-quality water from hydrants. “We look forward to winning the supportive attitude of the Budapest people.”

Budapest catching up

After the press conference, Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky said to mno.hu: from the 43 drinking tap, Budapest City Image Nonprofit Kft., which is 100% owned by the capital, bought 20 pieces a value of HUF 3 million, the remaining 23 was bought by the Waterworks. The operating costs – cleaning, installation, dismantling, and seasonal water usage – are also financed by the Waterworks.

Speaking of the image of the city, the Deputy Mayor mentioned that there was a request for information from Design Terminal about the project. “They helped the initiative to life with a one-time remuneration, but we and the waterworks also saw fantasy in it” – she said. In relation to the further developments, she explained: “one area of cooperation with Design Terminal is the Smart City application, of which one of the winners we got contacted by the company. Now we look at how we can insert it among the supported projects.”

Not just costs matter, human factor is also important

“There are thirty-two thousand hydrants in Budapest, the drinking tap could have been installed on 14 thousand of them” – Csaba Haranghy said asking mno.hu’s question about numbers. But as the investment cost of one piece is HUF 120 thousand and the waterworks “has a pretty tight management, it was good that half of the drinking fountains was paid by Budapest”.

They can expand the numbers, if they find partners, not just in financial but in binding terms. “The partners can be legal entities, since we have to contract them to certain conditions, but we expect anyone, even schools.”

Home manufactory

“Compared to the ten pieces produced last year,  we slightly revised them. The new ones are easier to install than the earlier, and these ones produced in Szekesfehervar, unlike last year’s moldings. We assembled, placed in boxes and gave them to the waterworks in Budapest, in fact they became small packages at us at the weekend” – Judit Soltesz idea owner said laughing, when mno.hu asked her about the process of manufacturing the taps.

“The hydrant’s stem leading to the ground is connected to the main water branch. The taps are usually closed, so there is no water in the body, but as a result of installing the drinking tap, the hydrant body becomes full with a dreadful pressure – that is why our taps are so heavy” – she explained. “On one occasion, about two dl of water squirts out in in fifteen seconds – as many as you can fill a glass with.”

The project has not only proven successful at home: after several domestic towns – Oroszlany, Pecs, Veszprem – thanks to the startup competition organized by Climate-KIC, it seems there would be demand for the idea of the young people abroad as well. “After the competition, several were interested, such as Copenhagen, Ireland and Austria. I do not know what the future will bring, but in any case, we contacted them.”

based on the article of mno.hu
translated by BA

Photo: Ivocsap Projekt Facebook page

Source: http://mno.hu