Urban Water Resilience Infrastructure Falling into Oblivion: The Case of Warsaw’s Oligocene Groundwater Intakes

Warsaw’s Oligocene Groundwater Intakes (OGIs) represent a unique but overlooked component of the city’s Urban Water System (UWS), originally developed to supplement municipal supply. This study investigates whether the existing OGI network can still contribute to Urban Water Resilience (UWR) under contemporary conditions. A mixed-methods approach was applied, combining archival research, geospatial analysis of 89 public intakes, and on-site assessments of selected facilities in the Praga Północ and Praga Południe districts. The results show that while OGIs form a decentralized and technically functional system with high resilience potential, their spatial coverage is uneven, their public use has sharply declined, and management is fragmented across multiple entities. Despite this marginalization, OGIs retain strategic value as an emergency safeguard and could be revitalized as part of Warsaw’s resilience strategy.