Odra

Main components of the Plan

The Plan provides for the implementation of necessary investment and research-and-implementation projects. The measures included are consistent with other programmes, such as the so-called Social Agreement and the Programme for the Hard Coal Mining Sector. As a result of consultations between the Ministry of Climate and Environment and other ministries, the Plan was divided into two five-year phases. Phase I includes:

• implementation of restructuring measures planned up to 2030, which are already underway or scheduled;
• measures aimed at increasing the retention capacity of mine waters and reducing the inflow of mine waters into rock massifs (thereby reducing salt concentrations in the waters of the Oder River);
• a pilot programme for innovative desalination technologies, enabling the identification of optimal and modern desalination methods (current methods are energy-intensive, which results in high operating costs).

Phase II of the Plan will be developed following the results of the pilot programme and additional analyses.

Key objectives

The main objective of the Oder desalination Plan is to improve the river’s ecological status, including:

• reducing the risk of a recurrence of the 2022 ecological disaster by achieving retention capacities necessary for effective management of the risk of “golden alga” blooms;
• achieving the environmental objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in terms of salinity (i.e. below 850 µS/cm on an annual average basis) for 3 out of 13 River Basin Management Units (RBMUs) within the Oder River system (currently none of these 13 RBMUs meets this target);
• testing innovative desalination technologies that will enable a reduction in operating costs (a key drawback of conventional systems is their high energy consumption). The pilot is to be implemented through an open call for technologies, in cooperation with mining facilities.

Phase I of the Plan was developed by the Ministry of Climate and Environment in cooperation with the ministries responsible for state assets, infrastructure, and energy, within the framework of the Interministerial Team for the Oder River. Following inter-ministerial consultations, on 24 October 2025 it was adopted in a written procedure by the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers.