Gruba Kaśka, Water well on Vistula River, Warsaw, Poland
Gruba Kaśka is a cylindrical intake tower in the Vistula River at Warsaw that draws water through eleven pipes buried beneath the riverbed. These pipes sit between 4 and 8 meters below the river bottom, using the sandy bed as a natural filter before pumping begins.
Operations began on September 22, 1964, introducing a new approach to water collection that replaced earlier land-based filtration systems. The riverbed location allowed more direct use of the Vistula flow with simpler technical infrastructure.
Locals gave the intake tower a familiar nickname rather than using a bureaucratic label, reflecting how Varsovians personify city infrastructure. This naming practice turned engineering works into characters with personality, making them part of everyday conversation along the river.
The tower is visible from the riverbank but sits in the middle of the water and cannot be accessed by visitors. Maintenance work by specialized vessels takes place regularly to keep the system running.
Two maintenance vessels named Chudy Wojtek II and III regularly clear the riverbed around the intake structure. Their names form a counterpart to the tower's nickname, completing a pair of characters in Warsaw's water supply folklore.
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