3 Administration of Water Resources Management: Key Facts …
37
Supervision over the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management from
January 9, 2018 is held by the Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation,
and not as previously the Minister of the Environment.
Despite the establishment of a new institution dealing with water management
in Poland, which is Pa´ nstwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie, already in
the first months of its functioning, there were problems with the implementation
of its tasks. Starting from technical issues related to the creation of new regional
water management boards and river basin management boards, appointing new directors, employing staff from former melioration boards and from local governments,
creating new posts for issues related to the timely processing of applications for the
issue of water law consents. Some of these problems have already been resolved and
resulted from the lack of a transitional period when transferring assets, documentation, and arrangements that were previously in the remit of the melioration boards
or local governments. The problems related to the interpretation of the provisions of
the Water Law Act, as well as the lack of a common database and a unified information system remain valid. The solution to these problems should in the first place
be the creation of a training system for the employees, but also for the stakeholders.
This will avoid conflicts between officials and the public. Doubts about the special
use of water, management principles in catchment terms should be determined and
consulted as part of regular meetings of officials with the local community. The
creation of a shared database is necessary, but it requires a systematic approach that
takes into account the interests of all institutions dealing with water management in
Poland. This requires a solution at the central level, taking into account the scope of
data and the form of making it available. Proper assessment of the functioning of the
current structure of institutions responsible for water management in Poland should
be prepared in a few years.
3.5 Discussion
The problem of proper water management is not Poland-specific. It pertains to other
countries as well [44–47]. Lack of coordination between state government and municipal governments, data sharing and informing the society are the problems of, among
others, Canada [48] and Germany [49]. German experience shows [50, 51] that determination of introduction of the WFD requires an analysis of the efficiency of new
law regulations introduced in the administration. Similar conclusions were made on
the implementation of the first stage of the WFD introduction in Sweden [52].
Integrated water management is characterized by the consistency between various
aspects of water management [53]. As indicated in this paper, integrated water
management in Poland did not fully comply with the assumptions.
Water resource management in Poland at the catchment level was introduced yet in
the 1990s. However, the other matters of integrated water resource management like
participation of society and all stakeholders have been introduced by the Framework
Water Directive. An important part of water management on the state or municipal
37
Supervision over the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management from
January 9, 2018 is held by the Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation,
and not as previously the Minister of the Environment.
Despite the establishment of a new institution dealing with water management
in Poland, which is Pa´ nstwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie, already in
the first months of its functioning, there were problems with the implementation
of its tasks. Starting from technical issues related to the creation of new regional
water management boards and river basin management boards, appointing new directors, employing staff from former melioration boards and from local governments,
creating new posts for issues related to the timely processing of applications for the
issue of water law consents. Some of these problems have already been resolved and
resulted from the lack of a transitional period when transferring assets, documentation, and arrangements that were previously in the remit of the melioration boards
or local governments. The problems related to the interpretation of the provisions of
the Water Law Act, as well as the lack of a common database and a unified information system remain valid. The solution to these problems should in the first place
be the creation of a training system for the employees, but also for the stakeholders.
This will avoid conflicts between officials and the public. Doubts about the special
use of water, management principles in catchment terms should be determined and
consulted as part of regular meetings of officials with the local community. The
creation of a shared database is necessary, but it requires a systematic approach that
takes into account the interests of all institutions dealing with water management in
Poland. This requires a solution at the central level, taking into account the scope of
data and the form of making it available. Proper assessment of the functioning of the
current structure of institutions responsible for water management in Poland should
be prepared in a few years.
3.5 Discussion
The problem of proper water management is not Poland-specific. It pertains to other
countries as well [44–47]. Lack of coordination between state government and municipal governments, data sharing and informing the society are the problems of, among
others, Canada [48] and Germany [49]. German experience shows [50, 51] that determination of introduction of the WFD requires an analysis of the efficiency of new
law regulations introduced in the administration. Similar conclusions were made on
the implementation of the first stage of the WFD introduction in Sweden [52].
Integrated water management is characterized by the consistency between various
aspects of water management [53]. As indicated in this paper, integrated water
management in Poland did not fully comply with the assumptions.
Water resource management in Poland at the catchment level was introduced yet in
the 1990s. However, the other matters of integrated water resource management like
participation of society and all stakeholders have been introduced by the Framework
Water Directive. An important part of water management on the state or municipal