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The Lindley waterworks in Warsaw was launched 140 years ago

Engineer Włodzimierz Rabczewski, director of the Water Supply and Sewerage Company of the Capital City of Warsaw. Warsaw and engineer Stanisław Rutkowski, his former deputy director, in the book Waterworks and sewerage m.st. Warsaw 1886–1936 Saturday, July 3, 1886, was assumed to be the date when water from new filters appeared in the homes of Warsaw residents.

Warsaw water carrier in the city center, K. Beyer, 1858

It is completely symbolic and was the beginning of a technological process that ended a year later. In the "Regulations of the Municipal Board of the City of Warsaw" of October 12, 1886, we read that: "After the construction of the river pump station of the new water supply and filters in Koszyki was completed, the operation of the new water supply began and the city is supplied with water drawn from the Vistula near the Czerniakowska tollgate, duly purified at the filter station." It is true that water actually flowed to the lower part of the city on July 3, 1886, but first to the former water supply station at ul. Dobra, where it was pumped by a steam engine to the Pump Station at Koszykowa street, and from there, after filtering, it was fed by gravity to... the Powiśle water supply network. 

This state of affairs lasted until the water tower was put into operation and the pumps at the filter station were started, that is, until mid-1887. From now on, we can talk about supplying the upper city network with filtered water. Old waterworks at Dobra street ceased to function on December 31, 1888. Filtered water began to be supplied to Praga suburb eight years later.

Central Water Filter Station in Warsaw, 1916 

Interview with Ryszard  Zelichowski at this site:

Filip Mazurczak, Built 140 years ago and still in use, Warsaw’s sewers connect the city to its brutal past, Notes from Poland: https://notesfrompoland.com/2026/05/31/built-140-years-ago-and-still-in-use-today-warsaws-sewers-connect-the-city-to-its-brutal-past/

120th anniversary of the death of Joseph Lindley

On April 20, 1906, in Ober Ursel (Oberursel), Joseph Lindley died at the age of only forty-seven. We recalled it on our pages a decade ago. Today we look back at Joseph's life story again.

He was the youngest of the three Lindley brothers and lived from 1859 to 1906. He came to Warsaw in December 1888 to replace his older brother Robert and represent in Warsaw the oldest of the three brothers, chief engineer William Heerlein, and to supervise the city's measurements as well as the construction of sewage and waterworks.

 Joseph Lindley stayed with Warsaw for seventeen years. A nervous illness, despite his stay in a southern climate and treatment in a renowned sanatorium in the Taunus Mountains, he ended his "busy life" there.

Joseph Lindley with his wife, Emily Suermondt

Joseph Lindley left behind his wife Emilia Suermondt, son Henry William and daughter Julia Anita. The Great Universal Illustrated Encyclopedia wrote: "for 16 years he developed a very useful activity in our country. Warsaw owes his great diligence and energy for completing these [sewerage] works."

In our E-library under the title "The Fourth Lindley" we have included an article on Joseh Lindley. We encourage you to read it again. We gave him the attention he deserves.

The London fair in 1814 on the Thames

35 Years in Warsaw. William H. Lindley and Lindley's plans

At that time, the Warsaw municipal surveying service was organizationally linked to the Waterworks and Sewerage Department, hence the term "Lindley's plans." Warsaw plans from 1883-1915 include the phrase "Survey under the direction of Chief Engineer W. H. Lindley" (in Russian).

He last appeared at a meeting of the Waterworks and Sewerage Construction Committee on March 26, 1914. World War I broke out in August. During the German occupation, the Municipal Departments were liquidated. From August 10, 1915, only the Water and Sewerage Section of the Warsaw City Council, with its Surveying Office, existed. The contract with W. H. Lindley was automatically suspended.

The last meeting of the Construction Committee took place on November 10, 1915. This also marked the end of the 35-year-long, highly fruitful collaboration between engineer Sir William H. Lindley, an honorary doctor of the University of Darmstadt.

1925 an Old – New Project of W.H. Lindley for Radom

W.H. Lindley visited Radom on September 26 and 27, 1909, where he familiarized himself with the city's hydrological and geological conditions, and again in July 1910 to select a water intake and inform the city authorities of the results of the work. On October 12th, he received an official commission from the new city mayor, Władysław Modzelewski, to prepare a preliminary design for the water supply and sewage system.

On May 1st, 1912, the designs were ready. "I hope," Lindley wrote in a letter to President Modzelewski, published in the booklet part of the project, "that the above explanations will enable you to take further action on this important matter."

Radom water tower, 1912

"The lack of necessary capital funds and the outbreak of World War I prevented the implementation of this modern project for its time," wrote Z. Wilczyński.

The artistic value and meticulous execution of all the preserved documentation were noteworthy.

Details

In 1924, the matter was revisited. The Radom City Hall signed a contract with the American Ulen & Company, a New York-based financial firm. The idea was ill-fated, and work on the project dragged on. Fearing the growing threats to the city's plans, Lindley's existing design was used. As a result, work could begin in 1925, and two years later, water flowed from the new water main.

Source: 

R. Żelichowski, Radom, w: Lindleyowie. dzieje inżynierskiego rodu, Societas Lindleiana, Warszawa 2019, t. II, s. 340-349.