Water retention in rural areas with a budget of PLN 50 million
17.07.2020
Beginning on July 22nd, the local government units will be able to use aid for the implementation of retention tasks in rural areas. PLN 50 million has been allocated for this purpose in the form of grants reaching up to 70% of eligible costs. The recruitment shall continue until 17 December next year or until the budget is exhausted.
The national subsidies will be sourced from the programme implemented by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management programme “Adaptation to climate change and reduction of the effects of environmental threats,” which, after modifications, provides for the financing of self-government tasks in the area of water retention in flumes or adjacent areas. In accordance with the Strategy for Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries 2030 adopted on 15 October 2019 by the Council of Ministers such areas are considered rural with the exception for cities exceeding 5 thousand inhabitants.
The call for applications for water retention systems in rural areas, which has just been announced, is part of the wider activities of the Ministry of Climate Change and the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. It aims, among other, to mitigate the effects of drought in Poland. The programme “Adaptation to climate change and reduction of the effects of environmental threats” (financing water retention systems in rural areas) is one of 26 programmes included in the so-called Green Investment Package, which is addressed to various beneficiaries and amounts to a total of nearly PLN 7.8 billion.
Other programmes currently available to finance “water” investments include “My Water”, which is particularly popular among Polish citizens. The programme provides total funding in the amount of PLN 100 million for household-level installations for retaining rainwater or snowmelt water on private plots. Moreover, the call for proposals for, among others, investments in green-blue infrastructure in cities with a total budget of PLN 100 million (co-financed under Norwegian funds) remains open until August 17th this year. And another PLN 60 million - under the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2014-2020 call for proposals - was allocated to urban and urban-rural municipalities to reduce the problem of drought and minimise the risk of flooding during heavy rainfall (the call remains open until August 28th).