Voluntary association of equal municipalities

To become a member of The Water management Association of the West Bohemia Region, the municipality should transfer its water assets to the Association. New members are approved by the General Meeting. The voluntary membership is defined in association’s articles that enable each municipality to leave the Association with its water assets. The General Meeting is the Association’s supreme body, where each municipality has one vote. They vote on water and wastewater rates, investment, plans etc.

Water under public control

By concluding an exclusive lease, the Association transferred the responsibility for running and upgrading existing water and wastewater infrastructure to the operating company Vodárny a kanalizace Karlovy Vary (Vodakva) and became one of its two main shareholders. The other one, an international group SUEZ, which is active in water industry for a long time, has concluded a shareholders’ agreement with the Association. This agreement regulates the voting system and states how to share positions in statutory bodies. The Association in cooperation with the worldwide water company SUEZ influence and check the quality of services and supervise the management of Vodakva. The municipalities also check the realization of investments carried out by Vodakva via their membership in public procurement committees.

Operation and investment solidarity

All Association’s revenues  coming from the rent paid by Vodakva, dividends from Vodakva´s shares and capital subsidies from different sources  are used to finance investments in water and wastewater systems. The total solidarity of Association’s members means that they are not only sharing operation but also investments. This enables them to generate sufficient financial resources to build necessary municipal water and wastewater infrastructure without having a negative impact on municipal budgets. The investment solidarity also supports optimal technical and economical solutions in extending water supply systems and building multi-municipal wastewater networks with wastewater treatment plants. The result is that the total Association´s property has increased from the existing CZK 1.2 billion to 7 billion.