GZWP (Major Groundwater Reservoirs)

We perform actions concerned with the establishment of protected areas of Major Groundwater Reservoirs and assess the effectiveness of reservoir protection.

Being the body responsible for the update of the 1:500,000 map of Major Groundwater Reservoirs (GZWP), the main contractor of the 1:50 000 Hydrogeological Map of Poland, at the request of the Ministry of the Environment the Polish Geological Institute, has undertaken to prepare the research project known as Initial valorisation of Major Groundwater Reservoirs, relating to assessing the depletion values of the waters they accumulate as well as the advisability and sequence of protective actions.

The work was carried out in collaboration with university specialists. The materials used included: study results for documentations of regional disposable groundwater resources, documentations of prospective groundwater resources to be used for water management, hydrogeological documentations of Major Groundwater Reservoirs, scale 1:50,000, and the 1:50 000 Hydrogeological Map of Poland. Moreover, documents of the Ministry of the Environment were used, namely “The policy of the department regarding the area of hydrogeology,” 1994, and its later verification prepared in collaboration with experts from the Polish Geological Institute in 1998.

A classification of the Major Groundwater Reservoirs was prepared according to the following criteria: resource utilisation, degree of anthropogenic transformations, resistance to contaminants, economic aspect of protective recommendations and water payment rates. 55 Major Groundwater Reservoirs documented in detail were valorised at a scale of 1:50,000 while 68 generally documented reservoirs were valorised at a scale of 1:500,000.

During research works in 2003-2004, 125 Major Groundwater Reservoirs were valorised and ranked, including 50 documented reservoirs and 75 undocumented ones. The valorisation showed that the documented Major Groundwater Reservoirs are mostly reservoirs for which protection areas need to be established urgently. A map of initial valorisation of Major Groundwater Reservoirs at a scale of 1:500,000 was developed, the Major Groundwater Reservoir Database was updated, taking into account the ranking and valorisation study results, and data on Major Groundwater Reservoirs was updated and documented at a detailed scale.

The Major Groundwater Reservoir Database contains a classification of Major Groundwater Reservoirs according to the following criteria: resource utilisation, degree of anthropogenic transformations, resistance to contaminants, economic aspect of protective recommendations and water payment rates. The primary purpose of the new map of Major Groundwater Reservoirs is to present updated study results for Major Groundwater Reservoirs in Poland. A distinctive feature of the Major Groundwater Reservoir map developed by the Polish Geological Institute is its up-to-date information based on GIS layers (updated annually, fig. 1).

In 2016 PHS was completed the task. See summary.

Major Groundwater Reservois

Fig. 1 The map of Major Groundwater Reservoirs (according to the condition by the Central Geological Archive – CAG – as at March 2021).

The basic information layers that describe Major Groundwater Reservoirs are:

  •  borders of documented Major Groundwater Reservoirs,
  •  borders of undocumented Major Groundwater Reservoirs,
  •  borders of protection areas of Major Groundwater Reservoirs,
  •  administrative division of the country,
  •  hydrography

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PHS Communicant: Major Groundwater Reservoirs in Poland

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