The research concerned the Wapienica dam reservoir, which is located in the Polish Carpathians, near the city of Bielsko-Biala. The dam closes the flow of water from the 11.1 km 2 catchment. The forests cover about 90% of the catchment area, while the rest of the catchment constitutes grassland areas. The reservoir has a capacity of 1.05 million m 3. The collected water is intended for supplying a water supply system. The catchment is treated as semi-natural, because within its borders the only works related to forest management are carried out. The aim of the research was evaluation of the water quality in this reservoir, including trophic status, based on the analyses carried out in 2015. It was found that the water was of good quality in basic physicochemical terms (e.g. suspension ≤13 mg•dm-3 ,COD Cr ≤11 mgO 2 •dm-3 , conductivity ≤82 µS•cm-1 , phosphates <0.05 mg•dm-3 , nitrates ≤5.1 mg•dm-3 , dissolved iron ≤0.12 mg•dm-3). The contamination with heavy metals was not ascertained, with the exception of the zinc. The assessed sanitary indicators are worse-the bacteria of the Coli group and periodically also enterococci were observed in the reservoir water. The reservoir is not homogeneous in terms of biological production (the trophy degree). It is low in the upper part (oligotrophy generally) and increases in the part near the dam (mesotrophy, also eutrophy). The established presence of dangerous bacteria and symptoms of the reservoir eutrophication are disturbing in the context of the opinion on the purity of uninhabited mountain areas.

The aim of this research was the analysis of the species composition and planktonic algae biomass in the ponds of Habsburg Park in Żywiec. So far, the urban park ponds have been rarely studied (especially in Poland) in this respect. The analyses of the park ponds water in Żywiec were conducted during the vegetation season in 2016, in monthly intervals. The phytoplankton biomass was calculated by comparing the shape of algae to geometrical figures and based on the chlorophyll a concentrations. The chlorophyll a concentrations and values of the planktonic algae biomass remained at a low level. The species composition showed the dominance of diatoms (i.a. Achnanthes lanceolate (Brébisson ex Kützing) Grun. in Cl. & Grun., Encyonema sp. (Kützing) Krammer). The highest values of the planktonic algae biomass were observed in the summer season. The ponds in the Habsburgs Park in Żywiec have great aesthetic and recreational values and therefore more frequent monitoring is necessary.