This book offers a comprehensive review of the current environmental conditions and chemical changes in Polish surface waters. Poland is situated in an area that was covered by glaciations in the distant past. The subsequent periods of glacial advance and retreat produced a continuous rejuvenation of the landscape, and the discharge of surplus water from this area was constantly transformed by morphological, climatic and hydrological changes. Written by expert contributors, the book’s respective chapters address the impact of current climatic conditions on the functioning of surface water reservoirs in Poland, while also exploring the country’s hydrographic and hydrological network and the trophic state of its rivers and lakes, their eutrophication and threats. Particular attention is paid to sources of pollution, above all, the chemical pollution of water and sediments. Together with the companion book Polish River Basins and Lakes – Part II: Biological Status and Water Management, it provides students, environmental chemists, biologists, geologists, hydrologists and surface waters managers with authoritative information on Poland’s current environmental status.

This book reviews the latest research and developments concerning the biodiversity and biocontamination assessment of aquatic ecosystems in Poland. The authors present expert analyses of the current biological status of Polish surface waters, and examine a broad range of elements related to aquatic ecosystems, including macrophytes, phytoplankton, zooplankton and macroinvertebrates, microorganisms, fish, and selected invasive aquatic species. A set of conservation and restoration practices, and a review of protected sites within the Polish basins and catchment areas, are also provided. This book and the companion volume Polish River Basins and Lakes – Part I: Hydrology and Hydrochemistry offer valuable resources for students, environmental chemists, biologists, geologists, hydrologists and surface waters managers interested in the environmental conditions of Poland’s surface waters.

This book contains a rich resource of essential information on the water resources capacities in Poland. This book contributes to the recognition of water resources management including extreme hydrological events such as floods and droughts. The book incorporates case studies illustrating solutions of water quantity management in Poland. This edited book covers all water bodies in the country including rivers, lakes, reservoirs and groundwater. The novelty of this book is that it represents the first time a manuscript covers the assessment of water resources in Poland, including variability, availability and economic use of the hydrological resources in the country with the lowest renewable resources of surface water per inhabitant in Europe. Given the depth and breadth of its coverage, the book offers engineers, researchers, policy planners, decision makers, and stakeholders essential new insights into efficient water resources management.

This book presents state-of-the-art knowledge concerning water quality in Poland. It offers a wide variety of cases and issues on water resource quality management. The book also presents different methods and strategies to effectively use the most advanced water resource quality problems such as water pollution, whether physical, chemical, or biological, of surface water resources and groundwater resources. The authors pay exceptional attention to water quality monitoring in agricultural, urban catchments, and water reservoirs. More light into the water quality is required to assess water's physicochemical status accurately and plan suitable protection actions against recognized threats. This book addresses the needs of professional engineers, researchers, policy planners, decision-makers, stakeholders, and anyone looking to learn more about the quality situation of water resources in Poland and other similar countries and regions.

Ecotones, or boundary zones between land and inland waters (such as lakes, streams and rivers), are the principal routes for transport of organic matter and nutrients across landscapes via physical and biological vectors. The ecotone is the place of cumulation and transformation of in situ production as well as of allochthonous material from adjacent aquatic and terrestrial systems. The ecotype functions as an important barrier or filter for principal nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, responsible for the eutrophication and degradation of surface waters. Intensive forest cutting, agriculture, pollution and bank regulation, urbanization and hydrotechnical constructions seriously endanger the ecotone systems and damage their protective function. It is vital to develop a scientific understanding of the behaviour of phosphorus and nitrogen in these transitional boundary habitats. Such an understanding is important for the rational protection, management and restoration of ecotones connected with lakes and rivers. The importance of nutrient cycling and retention is discussed from the point of view of ecotone function, management and reconstruction in order to sustain its protective role for water bodies. Various types of land/water transitory zones are discussed: wetlands, lake littoral systems, riparian zones of rivers, streams and brooks, the contact zones between groundwater and surface waters of lakes and rivers, air--water interfaces, and patch/ecotone structures in watersheds.