Water knowledge centre

About MPWiK S.A. in Wrocław

Everything starts with water…

MPWiK S.A. (Municipal Water and Sewerage Company) in Wrocław is almost 150 years old.  Currently, it supplies high quality water from Oława and Nysa Kłodzka to 700 thousand recipients from Wrocław and 7 neighbouring communes.

What distinguishes MPWiK, is that for years it has been taking care of the natural environment and is socially involved. It also undertakes activities aimed at improving environmental awareness, e.g. through a social campaign #PijKranówkę (#DrinkTapWater). A specific example of implementing the CSR policy is shaping good attitudes among the youngest by establishing the preschool Academy of Friends of Water and launching the website www.mpwikdzieciom.pl.

Most spectacular embodiment of the educational mission is Hydropolis.

This unique knowledge water centre combines educational values with modern forms of exhibition. Hydropolis is also an exceptional example of revitalization of a post-industrial facility.  The exhibition devoted to water is located in a 19th century underground clean water reservoir.

MPWiK, as a Company of strategic importance from the point of view of Wrocław’s development, strives for perfection in every activity.  It has a New Technologies Centre, responsible for cooperation with the scientific community and seeking innovative solutions.

The Company employs nearly 800 persons who on a daily basis take care of the quality of water, supplying it to the households of citizens and collecting the wastewater.

Ambassadors of Hydropolis

Ryszard Horowitz

Ryszard Horowitz is a world-renowned photographer and specialist in digital photo processing. He fulfils a function of an Ambassador of Hydropolis. He was born on 5 May 1939 in Kraków. During the first years of the World War II he lived with his family in the Kraków Ghetto. Then he was sent to the Nazi concentration camp in Oświęcim - he is one of the youngest prisoners rescued from there. He became interested in photography as early as at the age of fourteen - but it was the art of painting that developed a remarkable artistic sensitivity in him. In 1959, he moved to New York, where he lives and works today. Over the years he has consistently been developing his extraordinary way of looking at reality, in which he courageously combines the photography of places and people with unusual, often surrealistic motifs. In 2016, Hydropolis presented the exhibition “Wodociągi wrocławskie w obiektywie Ryszarda Horowitza” ("Wrocław Waterworks through the Ryszard Horowitz's lens") in the temporary exhibition zone. This exhibition was a selection of seventeen works, in which the artist depicts the historic buildings of MPWiK in Wcorław and animals exploring them. Ryszard Horowitz created these artistic compositions based on his photographs of the Świątniki pumping station, the Stary Port pumping station, the old Iron remover, and the unique Water Tower at ul. Na Grobli.

Don Walsh

Don Walsh is an oceanographer, sea and ocean explorer, lecturer, and a retired US Navy officer. He is the first man to reach the deepest point of the Earth's oceans - the so-called Challenger Deep. Repeatedly rewarded and honoured for his achievements, he is e.g. one of the twenty lifelong members of the prestigious “The Explorers Club”. He was awarded the highest distinction by the National Geographic - the Hubbard Medal. He took part in several dozen scientific expeditions, and one of the rock spurs in the Arctic received a name “Walsh Spur”. He is an author of many articles and books and has given nearly 1500 lectures on oceanic topics in dozens of countries around the world.