Regional Socio-economic and Environmental Changes and their Impacts on Water Resources on Example of Odra and Elbe Basins

Abstract

During the last two decades significant socio-economic and environmental changes took place in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including collapse of the old socio-economic systems and climate change. The main objective of the paper is to analyse changes in water resources in the region and to relate them either to ongoing climate change or to socio-economic changes in the region, where possible. Two basins located in the Eastern part of Germany and in the Western part of Poland were taken as case study areas. An attempt to compare changes of water resources triggered by socio-economic and environmental (therein climate) changes was undertaken, including quantitative assessment of relative magnitudes of impacts, where feasible. The impacts on both water quantity and water quality aspects were investigated, considering changes in river discharge, groundwater dynamics, water demand, point and non-point source pollution in both basins under study. Where necessary, the analysis of data was supported by modelling results. The analysis reported confirms that until now the changes in socio-economic systems have impacted regional water resources in a more significant way than the climate change. However, the impacts of climate change on water resources in the study regions are likely to increase in the future, warmer climate, as projected by the existing scenarios.

Climate change and stream water quality in the multi-factor context

“…Even large towns in the region fed much of its untreated sewage directly to rivers. Also draining wetlands influenced water quality, affecting retention of sediments and associated pollutants (deposition) and retention of nutrients (uptake, denitrification) on the way to river network (Krysanova et al 2006).…”

“…In result, marked improvements of river water quality have been observed in Central Europe (Krysanova et al 2006). The oxygen content in streams and rivers has increased, leading to notable enhancement of conditions for fish breeding.…”

“…Besides, nutrient retention in watersheds plays a role, being responsible for a time lag between reduction of diffuse-source emissions and improvement of water quality in a river. As a result, nitrate levels in many Europe's rivers are still high, and the progress is hardly visible (Krysanova et al 2006).…”

Practices and Lessons Learned in Coping with Climatic Hazards at the River-Basin Scale: Floods and Droughts

“…For example, the climate change impact assessment for the Elbe shows that even a relatively small decrease in precipitation coupled with higher temperatures can result in a significant decrease in groundwater recharge and seasonal river flow (Hattermann et al 2006).…”

“…The Elbe River is experiencing all three major water-related problems: too much water once in a while, i.e., floods; too little water from time to time, Ecology and Society 13(2): 32 http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art32/ i.e., droughts; and water of inadequate quality, although a notable improvement in water quality was achieved over the last 15 yr (Krysanova et al 2006). Recently, extreme hydrological events were observed in the basin.…”