Chapter 7
Water Quality in Main Dam Reservoirs
in Poland
Damian Absalon, Magdalena Matysik, and Michał Habel
Abstract This chapter presents the analysis of data on water quality for 22 selected
dam reservoirs in Poland. The conditions of water quality have been described based
on available data. The characteristics of physical, chemical, and biological parameters have been presented, and ecological status, chemical status, and the overall status
of reservoirs was assessed. As a result, good ecological status was established for 13
reservoirs and good chemical status for 8 reservoirs. However, the overall classification points to good water quality of only 6 dam reservoirs located in the Carpathians,
in upper sections of rivers. Other studied reservoirs have a bad quality of water. The
possibilities of modern continuous monitoring on one of the dam reservoirs have
also been presented.
Keywords Water quality · Dam reservoirs · Ecological status · Chemical status ·
Continuous (real-time) monitoring · Poland
7.1 Introduction
Dam reservoirs are formed when a river valley is artificially divided with a dam [1].
So far in Poland, 101 dam reservoirs have been built with the storage capacity of
over 1 mln
3 [2, 3], and their total capacity constitutes only about 5–6% of annual
discharge to the Baltic Sea. [4]. It can thus be assumed that Poland does not have
favourable conditions for creating big water reservoirs, which is the result of low
flow in rivers, high flow changeability, and unfavourable natural conditions for their
construction.
D. Absalon (B) · M. Matysik
University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland
e-mail: damian.absalon@us.edu.pl
M. Matysik
e-mail: magdalena.matysik@us.edu.pl
M. Habel
Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Poland
e-mail: mihab@ukw.edu.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Zeleˇ náková et al. (eds.), Quality of Water Resources in Poland, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64892-3_7
145
Water Quality in Main Dam Reservoirs
in Poland
Damian Absalon, Magdalena Matysik, and Michał Habel
Abstract This chapter presents the analysis of data on water quality for 22 selected
dam reservoirs in Poland. The conditions of water quality have been described based
on available data. The characteristics of physical, chemical, and biological parameters have been presented, and ecological status, chemical status, and the overall status
of reservoirs was assessed. As a result, good ecological status was established for 13
reservoirs and good chemical status for 8 reservoirs. However, the overall classification points to good water quality of only 6 dam reservoirs located in the Carpathians,
in upper sections of rivers. Other studied reservoirs have a bad quality of water. The
possibilities of modern continuous monitoring on one of the dam reservoirs have
also been presented.
Keywords Water quality · Dam reservoirs · Ecological status · Chemical status ·
Continuous (real-time) monitoring · Poland
7.1 Introduction
Dam reservoirs are formed when a river valley is artificially divided with a dam [1].
So far in Poland, 101 dam reservoirs have been built with the storage capacity of
over 1 mln
3 [2, 3], and their total capacity constitutes only about 5–6% of annual
discharge to the Baltic Sea. [4]. It can thus be assumed that Poland does not have
favourable conditions for creating big water reservoirs, which is the result of low
flow in rivers, high flow changeability, and unfavourable natural conditions for their
construction.
D. Absalon (B) · M. Matysik
University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland
e-mail: damian.absalon@us.edu.pl
M. Matysik
e-mail: magdalena.matysik@us.edu.pl
M. Habel
Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Poland
e-mail: mihab@ukw.edu.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Zeleˇ náková et al. (eds.), Quality of Water Resources in Poland, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64892-3_7
145