24
K. Kubiak-Wójcicka
These studies provide a picture of systemic solutions to water management at the
national or regional level, and above all, how they work in practice. Guidance on
the strengths and weaknesses of these systems, based on different experiences, show
that they are not only important for the areas affected by water scarcity, e.g., Qatar
[11], Iran [12], but also regions that have large water resources, such as Canada
[13, 14]. The issues of the amount of water, and more and more often emerging
issues of its quality, have led to the examination of water resources in many aspects.
The key to solving the problems is the appropriate management of water resources
[15–17]. In recent years, researchers have been discussing the importance of water
management in the face of climate change [18–20], as well as the scale and form of
social participation in water resources management [21–25].
The only possibility for rational water resources use is integrated water resources
management (IWRM). According to Biswas [26], this was already known at the
beginning of the twentieth century, but the return to it occurred only in the 1990s.
One definition of integrated water management has been presented by Global Water
Partnership [27] as “the process promoting the harmonious development and management of water, space and other resources, in order to maximise social and economic
benefits while maintaining healthy ecosystems.”
The IWRM concept has been debated by many scholars [28–30]. A new management concept is an adaptive comanagement (ACM). The term “comanagement” indicates the collaboration of a wide range of actors from government and civil society
in sharing managing power and responsibilities across local, regional, and national
levels [31–33]. In Poland, the problem of integrated systems in water management
was considered by many authors [34–37].
This chapter presents water resources management in Poland over the last twenty
years. Based on the analysis of official documents (legal acts), literature review,
interviews with employees at various levels of offices related to water management
and the author’s own experiences, the case of water management in Poland has
been described. The interviews focus on the determination of roles and efficiency
of the organizations responsible for water management at the governmental and
municipal levels. The surveys were conducted with 10 persons with at least 5 years
of professional experience.
Poland is a country where water resources are one of the poorer in Europe. In
the years 1951–2015 the average annual surface runoff from the territory of Poland,
including its tributaries from abroad, was 61 km
3 . The average specific runoff in
the largest basin of the Vistula is between 5.3 and 10 dm
3
· s
−1
· km
−2 [38]. This
gives the annual water resource size of 1600 m
3 per capita, while in most European
countries, freshwater resources are at a level of approximately 5000 m
3 per capita. In
addition, surface water resources of Poland are highly volatile in terms of time and
space, which causes periodic water excesses and deficits in rivers [39]. Therefore,
the management of water resources is extremely difficult. On May 1st 2004, Poland
became a member of the European Union and hence must apply the rules of the Frame
Water Directive, which obliges the member states to rational use and protection of
water resources, following the paradigm of the balanced development. The current
scheme of water management is the result of the transposition of rules of the WFD
K. Kubiak-Wójcicka
These studies provide a picture of systemic solutions to water management at the
national or regional level, and above all, how they work in practice. Guidance on
the strengths and weaknesses of these systems, based on different experiences, show
that they are not only important for the areas affected by water scarcity, e.g., Qatar
[11], Iran [12], but also regions that have large water resources, such as Canada
[13, 14]. The issues of the amount of water, and more and more often emerging
issues of its quality, have led to the examination of water resources in many aspects.
The key to solving the problems is the appropriate management of water resources
[15–17]. In recent years, researchers have been discussing the importance of water
management in the face of climate change [18–20], as well as the scale and form of
social participation in water resources management [21–25].
The only possibility for rational water resources use is integrated water resources
management (IWRM). According to Biswas [26], this was already known at the
beginning of the twentieth century, but the return to it occurred only in the 1990s.
One definition of integrated water management has been presented by Global Water
Partnership [27] as “the process promoting the harmonious development and management of water, space and other resources, in order to maximise social and economic
benefits while maintaining healthy ecosystems.”
The IWRM concept has been debated by many scholars [28–30]. A new management concept is an adaptive comanagement (ACM). The term “comanagement” indicates the collaboration of a wide range of actors from government and civil society
in sharing managing power and responsibilities across local, regional, and national
levels [31–33]. In Poland, the problem of integrated systems in water management
was considered by many authors [34–37].
This chapter presents water resources management in Poland over the last twenty
years. Based on the analysis of official documents (legal acts), literature review,
interviews with employees at various levels of offices related to water management
and the author’s own experiences, the case of water management in Poland has
been described. The interviews focus on the determination of roles and efficiency
of the organizations responsible for water management at the governmental and
municipal levels. The surveys were conducted with 10 persons with at least 5 years
of professional experience.
Poland is a country where water resources are one of the poorer in Europe. In
the years 1951–2015 the average annual surface runoff from the territory of Poland,
including its tributaries from abroad, was 61 km
3 . The average specific runoff in
the largest basin of the Vistula is between 5.3 and 10 dm
3
· s
−1
· km
−2 [38]. This
gives the annual water resource size of 1600 m
3 per capita, while in most European
countries, freshwater resources are at a level of approximately 5000 m
3 per capita. In
addition, surface water resources of Poland are highly volatile in terms of time and
space, which causes periodic water excesses and deficits in rivers [39]. Therefore,
the management of water resources is extremely difficult. On May 1st 2004, Poland
became a member of the European Union and hence must apply the rules of the Frame
Water Directive, which obliges the member states to rational use and protection of
water resources, following the paradigm of the balanced development. The current
scheme of water management is the result of the transposition of rules of the WFD