Specialist Training for Personnel of the Regional Boards of Melioration and Water Devices: ‘Buffer zones and other measures to reduce diffuse pollution from agricultural areas, and improvement of the water condition’, 2-3 July 2014, Smardzewice

On 2-3 July 2014, in Smardzewice, a specialist training ‘Buffer zones and other measures to reduce diffuse pollution from agricultural areas, and improvement of the water condition’ was delivered. The training was developed for personnel of the Regional Boards of Melioration and Water Devices from the territory covered by EKOROB Project – Lodzkie, Silesia, and Swietokrzyskie Provinces.

42 participants representing the following institutions took part in the training:

  • Board of Melioration and Water Devices in Katowice;
  • Board of Melioration and Water Devices in Kielce;
  • Board of Melioration and Water Devices in Lodz;
  • Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Lodz;
  • Institute of Technology and Life Sciences;
  • Department of Applied Ecology of the University of Lodz;
  • Polish Angling Society, branch in Piotrkow Trybunalski.

The following presentations were delivered on the first day of the training:

  • Wojciech Frątczak, Project Coordinator, Regional Water Management Authority in Warsaw: ‘EKOROB Project presentation’;
  • Katarzyna Izydorczyk, European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the PAS: ‘Buffer zones: functioning and efficiency in reducing diffuse pollution’;
  • Agnieszka Bednarek, Department of Applied Ecology of the University of Lodz: ‘Denitrification walls: functioning and efficiency in reducing pollution of ground waters with nitrogen compounds’;
  • Aleksander Góralczyk, Polish Angling Society, branch in Piotrkow Trybunalski: ‘The Luciaza  – river eco-regulation … – a case study of an environmental investment in the context of the provisions of the Water Framework Directive and previous hydrotechnical practices’.

Then the employees of the Boards of Melioration and Water Devices involved in the training took part in a visit to the site where the investment on the Luciaza River is implemented by the Regional Board of Melioration and Water Devices in Lodz and to see newly constructed buffer zones in the EKOROB demonstration sites in Barkowice Zatoka and Barkowice Laka.

In the first part of the next training day the following presentations were delivered:

  • Łukasz Wojcieszak, Institute of Technology and Life Sciences: ‘Capacity to remove phosphorus introduced from farmland to the water in ditches using filtration wells’;
  • Paweł Grabowski, Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Lodz: ‘Procedural aspects of assessing compliance of the implementation of investment and maintenance-oriented projects with the Framework Water Directive in terms of the obligation of meeting the environmental goals at the stage of conducting Environmental Impact Assessment’.

Under the workshop part, Wojciech Frątczak, EKOROB Project Coordinator, Regional Water Management Authority in Warsaw, delivered a presentation on the Action Programme developed under LIFE+ EKOROB Project, which aims at reducing diffuse pollution from the Pilica catchment. The participant discussed this Programme.

Upon the training completion, the participants expressed their hope for a broader cooperation and assistance to improve the Action Programme in terms of water melioration and small retention through addressing comments, guidelines and conclusions specified in the surveys, by the participating Boards of Melioration and Water Devices.