Minister Moskwa informed that the Polish Waters have identified more than 20 thousand of river outfalls, including nearly 7 thousand with no valid water-law permits or with unknown owner.

“On 13 October this year, the Polish Waters commenced the audits of several dozen entities which have previously held, but currently have no valid water-law permits for river outfalls. The purpose of these audits is to encourage the owners to legalise their installations – to enable monitoring of the substances discharged to the rivers and their quantities” – she explained.

This is yet another stage of the activities preceded by the field verification of river outfalls and analysis of the existing documentation. The process lasted one year and covered the entire territory of Poland.

Closer cooperation between the departments of the Polish Waters, Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection and the Regional Inspectorates of Environmental Protection aims at increasing the effectiveness of measures taken by these institutions. The focus is on improving water quality in Poland, while legalising the installations will enable more effective control.

“Cooperation we have taken aims also at strengthening of direct contacts, sharing information on the implemented measures and identified illegal outfalls that pollute water. Our cooperation will include also joint proposals of legal amendments to increase the effectiveness of water protection against pollution” – said the Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa.

As she added, the long-term objective of the measures taken by the Polish Waters is structuring information on the installations, encouraging the owners to legalise them, monitoring of installations and reducing illegal discharges – which should positively affect the quality of water and gradually increase the number of entities and users holding the water-law permits, which form also the basis for auditing these entities by the Regional Inspectorates of Environmental Protection within the validity period of these permits.

“The process is pending. We intend to implement continuous audits since 2022. We will continue to inform the public on our activities” – stressed Minister Moskwa.

In the opinion of Deputy Minister Marek Gróbarczyk, the illegal discharges most frequently take place at night, while the cases of inflow of unidentified substances to rivers and streams are reported occasionally.

“We need to structure information and challenge the owners to legalise their installations in cooperation with the local governments and other services, and therefore to gradually reduce the number of illegal water installations in the river banks and improve the effectiveness of the existing monitoring and audits” – he emphasized.

According to data of the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection, only 10% of Polish rivers demonstrates a good or very good ecological status/potential, 60% moderate, while 30% poor or bad status/potential. In the case of the Vistula River, the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate approved no bathing site for use in 2021. The causes of pollution of the Polish rivers include among others contamination with agricultural biogenes, industrial and municipal sewage and waste (including petroleum substances and plastics).

Michał Mistrzak, Deputy Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection, stressed the role of cooperation between the Environmental Protection Inspectors and the Polish Waters in the area of monitoring of water areas with a view to potential pollution. He reminded that anyone who breaks the law cannot feel unpunished.

“As the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection, we focus on combating illegal discharges, including at night. In such cases, we will have no mercy and all persons and entities will be held accountable” – he said.

According to the Head of Polish Waters Przemysław Daca, the Holding keeps watch of clean rivers.

“The purpose of the National Water Management Holding Polish Waters is to encourage the owners to update their documentation. We audit the entities throughout the country. Each audit is carried out on the case by case basis” – explained the Head of Polish Waters.

He added that the Polish Waters will inform the Inspectorates of Environmental Protection on the implemented measures and notify the Police in the cases requiring its intervention. The audits have been also notified to the competent local governments.