The period from April 14 to October 14, 2021 is a time of six-month consultations on the draft of the second update of water management plans (IIaPGW). So far, 12 online meetings have been held, symbolically in 12 cities. About 2.5 thousand people took part, interested in presentations by experts or asking a question about the broadly understood water issues in individual regions. In total, for the 12 regions consulted, approximately 27,000 remedial actions have been planned, concerning almost 4,000 bodies of water.
The National Water Management Authority is responsible for drafting the most important planning documents for water management, as well as flood management and drought prevention. The most important part of updating the water management plans is the set of corrective actions to be implemented after their adoption in the form of regulations. Public consultations on the project of the second update of water management plans (IIaPGW) are ongoing until October 14th. So far, 12 of the planned 15 meetings have been held, hosted by: Szczecin, Warsaw, Łódź, Kielce, Olsztyn, Gdańsk, Białystok, Lublin, Rzeszów, Kraków, Gliwice, Wrocław, with the meetings concerning nine river basin districts: Vistula, Oder, Dniester, Danube, Banówka, Elbe, Neman, Pregoła and Świeża. Three meetings: in Szczecin, Gdańsk and Łódź were joint meetings, relating to the projects of the 2nd update of water management plans (IIaPGW) and the update of flood risk management plans (aPZRP).
Actively on-lineDue to the epidemic situation, all meetings were organized on-line. In order to be able to take an active part, with the possibility of asking questions via the chat, the interested parties had to register in advance, at the time assigned to a given location. Everyone interested could also watch the course of individual meetings via live broadcast on the website https://www.apgw.gov.pl/.
The invited speakers presented a total of 78 presentations that summarized the results of analyzes regarding the degree of transformation of the water environment in our country, the prevailing pressures and the impact of human activity on water-related ecosystems, and indicated sets of remedial measures that should be taken to restore or maintain the good condition of surface and underground waters in Poland. However, there is no single recipe for the entire country - hence the importance of analyzing the water management situation in individual regions. Representatives of local government units, entrepreneurs, social organizations and individuals actively participated in each of the meetings. Through the chat, participants asked experts 133 questions on topics related to the state of water and water management, restoration, retention, wastewater treatment, but also specific remedial actions, challenges or investments that were key for individual regions. After each meeting, the appointed experts answered the questions asked via chat.
In total, over 1000 people actively participated in all consultation meetings regarding IIaPGW, and about 2.5 thousand people watched the meeting and participated in it for an average of about 2 hours. This is a very good result, demonstrating the importance of water-related topics to society
Corrective actions in numbersConsultation meetings are used not only to identify problems related to water management, but also to identify specific remedial actions that are to improve the condition of surface and groundwater, both in terms of quantity and quality. For regions where meetings have been held so far, almost 27,000 remedial actions have been planned for the amount of approximately PLN 30 billion.
Media and expertsPress briefings were organized before each consultation meeting. They were attended by representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure, The National Water Management Authority and individual Regional Water Management Authorities. The result of these activities is over 100 publications in the media, concerning the issues raised at the meetings and topics related to the challenges faced by individual regions.
Summer holidays and what's nextAt the beginning of September, further consultation meetings will be held in Bydgoszcz (02/09), Poznań (07/09) and Zielona Góra (09/09). From August 12, participants can register for the meeting in Bydgoszcz, from August 19 for the meeting in Poznań, and from August 20 - for the meeting in Zielona Góra. We encourage you to have your say on water by actively participating in consultation meetings!
We also remind you that you can submit comments and applications to IIaPGW projects until October 14:
- via an online survey at: www.apgw.gov.pl/pl/ankieta-apgw-II;
- via e-mail to the following address: Konsultacje@apgw.gov.pl or apgw@mi.gov.pl;
- in writing, at the place where the planning documents are made available, at the Polish Waters National Water Holding in Warsaw, 59A Żelazna St., 00-848 Warsaw
- in writing, by sending comments to the Ministry of Infrastructure address, Chałubińskiego 4/6,
- 00-928 Warsaw;
- orally, for the record, at the seat of the Ministry of Infrastructure, 6/12 Nowy Świat St., 00-400 Warsaw, 3rd floor, Department of Water Management and Inland Navigation.