The main intake is Wierzchowisko, which supplies drinking water to local inhabitants. In order to bring the nitrate content in the Wierzchowisko intake down to EU drinking water, sewage and desedimentation standards, Czestochowa has come up with a comprehensive package of investment projects which it hopes to co-fund from the EU’s ISPA programme. A financial memorandum signed on December 17, 2002 in Brussels and February 4, 2003 in Warsaw gave the scheme the heading, “Sewage Cleansing and Drinking Water Improvement in Częstochowa” and the file number 2002/PL/16/P/PE/035. The cost has been estimated at close to EUR 35.5 million, of which cohesion funding will cover 65 percent (about EUR 23.1 million). Completed under this project are six large investments which will help protect ground water. Besides the Wierzchowisko water treatment station, Częstochowa has also added 103 kilometres to its and neighbouring Mykanów’s’ sewage systems. The city’s main sewage processing plant as well as a similar plant in Rybna, part of Mykanów commune, were modernised. Work was also completed on a rain collector to channel rainwater from Czestochowa to the River Warta.


In recent years Czestochowa has also modernized its heating systems. In effect, today public utility buildings and community housing in the city is equipped with modern-day thermal installations and the local Provincial District Specialist Clinic draws its heat from 598 solar batteries. Also modernized was the lighting system, with to-date mercury lamps replaced by sodium lights. Twenty-eight buses on Częstochowa’s public transport fleet have engines meeting EURO–1 and EURO–3 fume emission norms. Also underway are energy and environmental management reforms in public buildings, which in 2007 involved their renovation and the replacement of their inefficient and unecological coal heating by modern gas-powered systems.
Częstochowa authorities places much emphasis on reducing emissions by public transport. The city’s Municipal Transport Enterprise (Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne w Częstochowie Spółka z o.o.) has managed to bring emissions down from year to year by fuelling its bus fleet with so-called “city Diesel”, the highest-quality and most ecological Diesel fuel available. Also under modernisation are municipal waste processing systems, among others a reverse-osmosis-technology sewage cleansing line has been started up at the main waste dumping ground in Sobuczyn. Also installed at Sobuczyn are 42 new gas wells and two 1.45MW gas motors, which will help in the utilisation of biogas.

In 2004 Częstochowa launched an air protection programme with the aim of cutting down dust emissions, in the same year funds from a communal environmental and water economy fund were used to aid private persons who had modernized heating installations in their homes or flats.

The Czestochowa Municipal Enterprise (Częstochowskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunalne Sp. z o.o.) has started up a Waste Processing Plant in a bid to resolve the city’s municipal waste headaches. The plant has modern segregation and composting lines, fragmentation systems for processing large waste, rubble crushing lines and storage and reloading facilities for dangerous waste. The city also has a mobile collection station for dangerous waste which separates dangerous substances from communal waste. The Częstochowa Municipal Enterprise has been frequently awarded, among others with an International Ecology Champion title at the 6th Eko International Competition in 2005, an Environment-Friendly Company Certificate at a national competition organized by the National Enterprise Promotion Forum under the patronage of the Environment Minister, a Fair-Playing Company Certificate (2007), an Ecology Champion 2007 diploma, an Environment-Friendly Company title at the 9th edition of the “Environment-Friendliness” National Ecology Competition, gold and bronze medals at the 2008 2nd IWIS International Inventiveness Fair in Warsaw, a bronze medal at the Eureka 2007 exhibition in Brussels and a “Polish Success” Golden Statuette (2007).

Eco-friendly behaviour is increasingly promoted in Częstochowa – among the most noteworthy initiatives are tidying campaigns in housing developments, the promotion of cycling as a cheap, convenient and environment-friendly alternative to motor transport, and steps to draw more tourism to the area’s natural beauty spots. From 2005 Częstochowa authorities have been ceding some of these tasks onto public organizations, which resulted in some useful projects, e.g. No Car Day (2005), Listening To Water (2006), The River Warta – Valuable, Protectionworthy (2007) or Scout Eco-Weekend (2007). Participants could compete in ecology, art and photo contests, also on the programme were excursions, exhibitions, lectures, info campaigns on green areas and their natural and social value. Częstochowa authorities together with several NGOs also organize environmental competitions, including the regularly-held Safe Life In A Healthy Environment contest sponsored by the Nature Protection League and the local police.