The big clean-up fa 05: Pipes are the arteries of the industrialised countries. They provide enterprises and private households with water and ensure disposal of their wastewater

There’s a lot to do for pipe manufacturers – and indeed everywhere, throughout the world. Take, for instance, St Petersburg where the supply situation is critical both for drinking water and for wastewater disposal. According to the foreign trade and marketing company Germany Trade and Invest (GTI), tap water in St Petersburg is substandard because 40 per cent of the city’s 6,755-kilometre pipe network has been “worn to a frazzle”. In Western European cities, by contrast, the level of wear and tear averages only 12 per cent. “St Petersburg is therefore doing everything it can to remedy this defect and modernise its network, so that it can eventually reach the same level as Munich or Berlin,” says GTI. The city is planning to spend nearly EUR 2.3 billion on its water supply by 2025.