15 Flood Risk Management System in Poland
297
risk minimisation strategy, “Moving people away from flood” (see Fig. 15.10).
This conception involves adapting human economic activity to flood mainly by
new legal regulations provided for in spatial planning, which are related to forbidding construction and engaging in any activities in flood-prone areas. Among nontechnical methods of flood risk mitigation are included legislative, administrative and
social actions as well as the insurance policy, which are aimed at reducing potential threat to leveed and non-leveed areas in a river valley, mainly by altering its
development pattern and reducing the so-called flooding-sensitive development.
Preparation of flood risk and hazard maps imposes on local governments the
obligation to include areas indicated on maps in local zoning plans and introduce
bans and restrictions on construction in those areas. Comparison of elements of
flood risk management strategies and the Polish experience in flood loss reduction
has shown that a reasonable avenue is compilation of technical and non-technical
actions, and selection of an optimal one, which will make possible the realisation of
the directive’s guidelines over a water region, and not only within a single catchment.
Reducing an area’s flood exposure by indicating floodland development possibilities in a manner not sensitive to consequences of flooding (e.g. parks, recreation
areas) is now considered among the most effective ways of mitigating potential flood
damage. It is also an alternative (ecological) measure for a technical flood protection
system which has a negative impact on the natural environment condition. Within
engineered and leveed river valleys can be observed multidirectional transformations of flow conditions (increased water speed and depth in the inter-levee zone)
and water outflow from the catchment. Changes also include hydromorphological
characteristics (straightening of a river’s course, clearing tall vegetation in river bed),
ecological conditions (isolation of valley ecosystems, disrupting the functioning of
habitat corridors) and landscape features (removal of wetlands and oxbow lakes).
According to the guidelines of the Framework Water Directive [61], these elements
are used to classify the ecological condition, which describes the quality of the structure and the functioning of ecosystems connected with surface waters, and to determine some surface waters which are artificial or highly altered as a result of human
activity, whose ecological potential is being estimated. It is emphasised that negative
effects of flood control investments, constituting a factor hindering the achievement
of the fundamental environmental objective which is a good ecological condition or
potential of part of surface waters, should be minimised, and environment-friendly
measures of flood prevention, for full protection, supported with technical methods
[66].
A lot of damage and losses are recorded during and after a flood, which is why
an immediate warning and response system is activated throughout. The strategy
“Learning to live with flood” (Fig. 15.10) involves reduction of an area’s susceptibility to flooding and inundation during a flood through direct protection as well
as emergency damage removal and loss minimisation. Methods of reducing flood
susceptibility of land and society include, among others: flood warning and response
systems, floodproofing of existing structures, and flood insurance policies.
297
risk minimisation strategy, “Moving people away from flood” (see Fig. 15.10).
This conception involves adapting human economic activity to flood mainly by
new legal regulations provided for in spatial planning, which are related to forbidding construction and engaging in any activities in flood-prone areas. Among nontechnical methods of flood risk mitigation are included legislative, administrative and
social actions as well as the insurance policy, which are aimed at reducing potential threat to leveed and non-leveed areas in a river valley, mainly by altering its
development pattern and reducing the so-called flooding-sensitive development.
Preparation of flood risk and hazard maps imposes on local governments the
obligation to include areas indicated on maps in local zoning plans and introduce
bans and restrictions on construction in those areas. Comparison of elements of
flood risk management strategies and the Polish experience in flood loss reduction
has shown that a reasonable avenue is compilation of technical and non-technical
actions, and selection of an optimal one, which will make possible the realisation of
the directive’s guidelines over a water region, and not only within a single catchment.
Reducing an area’s flood exposure by indicating floodland development possibilities in a manner not sensitive to consequences of flooding (e.g. parks, recreation
areas) is now considered among the most effective ways of mitigating potential flood
damage. It is also an alternative (ecological) measure for a technical flood protection
system which has a negative impact on the natural environment condition. Within
engineered and leveed river valleys can be observed multidirectional transformations of flow conditions (increased water speed and depth in the inter-levee zone)
and water outflow from the catchment. Changes also include hydromorphological
characteristics (straightening of a river’s course, clearing tall vegetation in river bed),
ecological conditions (isolation of valley ecosystems, disrupting the functioning of
habitat corridors) and landscape features (removal of wetlands and oxbow lakes).
According to the guidelines of the Framework Water Directive [61], these elements
are used to classify the ecological condition, which describes the quality of the structure and the functioning of ecosystems connected with surface waters, and to determine some surface waters which are artificial or highly altered as a result of human
activity, whose ecological potential is being estimated. It is emphasised that negative
effects of flood control investments, constituting a factor hindering the achievement
of the fundamental environmental objective which is a good ecological condition or
potential of part of surface waters, should be minimised, and environment-friendly
measures of flood prevention, for full protection, supported with technical methods
[66].
A lot of damage and losses are recorded during and after a flood, which is why
an immediate warning and response system is activated throughout. The strategy
“Learning to live with flood” (Fig. 15.10) involves reduction of an area’s susceptibility to flooding and inundation during a flood through direct protection as well
as emergency damage removal and loss minimisation. Methods of reducing flood
susceptibility of land and society include, among others: flood warning and response
systems, floodproofing of existing structures, and flood insurance policies.