30
K. Kubiak-Wójcicka
self-government (Journal of Laws 2013 item 594 as amended) and art. 3 section 1 of
the Act of June 7, 2001, on collective water supply and collective sewage disposal
(Journal of Laws from 2006 No. 123, item 858, as amended). Communes are responsible for providing the community with water supply and sewage disposal which
forces the creation of water and sewage companies or entrusts certain obligations to
a water and sewage company. In the last 20 years, we have had in Poland the unique
development of infrastructure investments, including those related to the concentration of expenditures from local government funds. Although various aid funds from
the European Union were widely used, e.g., the Operational Program Infrastructure
and Environment, as well as the National Fund for Environmental Protection and
Water Management (NFO ´
SiGW) however, also the own share of communes was
high enough. A significant part of the infrastructure was created in rural areas. In the
case of low-income communes, where the settlement network is dispersed, and thus
the cost of building the infrastructure is high, these investments have no chance for
implementation without the support of the state.
As a result of such division of competence, water management takes place in a
river basin and administrative system (Table 3.1).
Poland’s accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004 meant that Polish
regulations and legislation should be aligned to the EU. The most important EU
directives on water policy in the European Union is the Water Framework Directive
(WFD), which was approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the
European Union as the Directive 2000/60/EC, which came into force on 22 Dec.
2000 and introduction to the new EU Water Framework Directive (accessed 24 July
2006). Transposition of the WFD regulations into Polish legislation was primarily
through the Water Law and its implementing legislation. Also, the WFD has reflected
also in the Environmental Protection Law and the Act on collective water supply and
discharge of wastewater with the implementing legislation to these laws.
The EU water policy is based on the principles of Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM). These principles include treatment of the drainage basin as
a primary area of any planning and decision-making action, socialisation of the
decision-making process, integrated approach to surface water and groundwater,
treatment of water as a fundamental factor influencing the functioning of ecosystems,
as well as implementation of economic mechanisms in water management.
As a result of Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004, in order to align
the law with the WFD, the Polish Parliament introduced amendments to the existing
Water Law act of 18 July 2001. Due to complicated nature of the changes introduced
to the existing Water Law, it has been decided to create a new Water Law act, which
initially was supposed to come into force in 2015. That act assumed changes in
organizational scheme of water management in Poland and in the matter of water
usage fees following the rule “the one that uses the water pays.” The act has not
been introduced because of political changes that took place. In October 2015, as a
result of election to the parliament, after 8 years the ruling party stepped down. The
existing ministry division has been preserved with one exception. A new Ministry of
Naval Management and Inland Navigation has been created. Its competences were
previously (until 2015) in the domain of the Ministry of Infrastructure.
K. Kubiak-Wójcicka
self-government (Journal of Laws 2013 item 594 as amended) and art. 3 section 1 of
the Act of June 7, 2001, on collective water supply and collective sewage disposal
(Journal of Laws from 2006 No. 123, item 858, as amended). Communes are responsible for providing the community with water supply and sewage disposal which
forces the creation of water and sewage companies or entrusts certain obligations to
a water and sewage company. In the last 20 years, we have had in Poland the unique
development of infrastructure investments, including those related to the concentration of expenditures from local government funds. Although various aid funds from
the European Union were widely used, e.g., the Operational Program Infrastructure
and Environment, as well as the National Fund for Environmental Protection and
Water Management (NFO ´
SiGW) however, also the own share of communes was
high enough. A significant part of the infrastructure was created in rural areas. In the
case of low-income communes, where the settlement network is dispersed, and thus
the cost of building the infrastructure is high, these investments have no chance for
implementation without the support of the state.
As a result of such division of competence, water management takes place in a
river basin and administrative system (Table 3.1).
Poland’s accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004 meant that Polish
regulations and legislation should be aligned to the EU. The most important EU
directives on water policy in the European Union is the Water Framework Directive
(WFD), which was approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the
European Union as the Directive 2000/60/EC, which came into force on 22 Dec.
2000 and introduction to the new EU Water Framework Directive (accessed 24 July
2006). Transposition of the WFD regulations into Polish legislation was primarily
through the Water Law and its implementing legislation. Also, the WFD has reflected
also in the Environmental Protection Law and the Act on collective water supply and
discharge of wastewater with the implementing legislation to these laws.
The EU water policy is based on the principles of Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM). These principles include treatment of the drainage basin as
a primary area of any planning and decision-making action, socialisation of the
decision-making process, integrated approach to surface water and groundwater,
treatment of water as a fundamental factor influencing the functioning of ecosystems,
as well as implementation of economic mechanisms in water management.
As a result of Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004, in order to align
the law with the WFD, the Polish Parliament introduced amendments to the existing
Water Law act of 18 July 2001. Due to complicated nature of the changes introduced
to the existing Water Law, it has been decided to create a new Water Law act, which
initially was supposed to come into force in 2015. That act assumed changes in
organizational scheme of water management in Poland and in the matter of water
usage fees following the rule “the one that uses the water pays.” The act has not
been introduced because of political changes that took place. In October 2015, as a
result of election to the parliament, after 8 years the ruling party stepped down. The
existing ministry division has been preserved with one exception. A new Ministry of
Naval Management and Inland Navigation has been created. Its competences were
previously (until 2015) in the domain of the Ministry of Infrastructure.