Chapter 20
Power Plant Open Cooling System
in the Context of the Objectives
of the Water Framework Directive
Leszek Paj˛ ak, Agnieszka Operacz, and Barbara Tomaszewska
Abstract The maintenance of water using in all Member States of European Union
is focused on the rational use and protection of water resources in accordance with the
principle of sustainable development. The requirements of water policy are defined in
Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October
2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy,
also known as the Water Framework Directive. Article 13 of the WFD resulted in
the obligation to draw up river basin management plans. As a study case authors
selected the conventional power plant with the combined generation of electricity
and heat, situated in the Upper Vistula River sub-basin, Poland. On the technological
canal behind the conventional power plant, there is a small hydropower plant. The
assessment of the general status of a given body of surface water was conducted on the
basis of the analysis of the results of the assessment of the ecological status/potential
and of the chemical status of the body of surface water in question. The result of the
analysis was the inclusion in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 18 October
2016 of a derogation resulting from the lack of technical feasibility of achieving the
environmental objective.
Keywords Water framework directive · Environmental objectives · Cooling
system · Power plant · Poland
L. Paj˛ ak · B. Tomaszewska
Department of Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH
University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland
e-mail: pajakl@agh.edu.pl
B. Tomaszewska
e-mail: barbara.tomaszewska@agh.edu.pl
A. Operacz (B)
Department of Sanitary Engineering and Water Management, Faculty of Environmental
Engineering and Land Surveying, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
e-mail: a.operacz@urk.edu.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Zeleˇ náková et al. (eds.), Management of Water Resources in Poland, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61965-7_20
395
Power Plant Open Cooling System
in the Context of the Objectives
of the Water Framework Directive
Leszek Paj˛ ak, Agnieszka Operacz, and Barbara Tomaszewska
Abstract The maintenance of water using in all Member States of European Union
is focused on the rational use and protection of water resources in accordance with the
principle of sustainable development. The requirements of water policy are defined in
Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October
2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy,
also known as the Water Framework Directive. Article 13 of the WFD resulted in
the obligation to draw up river basin management plans. As a study case authors
selected the conventional power plant with the combined generation of electricity
and heat, situated in the Upper Vistula River sub-basin, Poland. On the technological
canal behind the conventional power plant, there is a small hydropower plant. The
assessment of the general status of a given body of surface water was conducted on the
basis of the analysis of the results of the assessment of the ecological status/potential
and of the chemical status of the body of surface water in question. The result of the
analysis was the inclusion in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 18 October
2016 of a derogation resulting from the lack of technical feasibility of achieving the
environmental objective.
Keywords Water framework directive · Environmental objectives · Cooling
system · Power plant · Poland
L. Paj˛ ak · B. Tomaszewska
Department of Fossil Fuels, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH
University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland
e-mail: pajakl@agh.edu.pl
B. Tomaszewska
e-mail: barbara.tomaszewska@agh.edu.pl
A. Operacz (B)
Department of Sanitary Engineering and Water Management, Faculty of Environmental
Engineering and Land Surveying, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Krakow, Poland
e-mail: a.operacz@urk.edu.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Zeleˇ náková et al. (eds.), Management of Water Resources in Poland, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61965-7_20
395