Anthropogenic Water Reservoirs in Poland

Abstract

Anthropogenic water bodies play an increasingly important role in the development of water resources. In 2018, there were 50 water bodies in Poland with capacities greater than 10 hm3 (mln m3) each. Their total retention capacity is slightly more than 3.7 km3, and their total area is 530 km2. Among artificial bodies of water, the following types are most often distinguished: reservoirs impounded by dams, flooded mineral workings, levee ponds, water bodies formed in subsidence basins and hollows, artificial pools and industrial ponds (for some bodies of water, multiple origins can be indicated). Water bodies in Poland function in quasi-natural areas as well as under conditions of varied agricultural or urban-industrial human pressure. Their environment determines the course of limnic processes which are characteristic of lentic waters, e.g. water circulation, water level fluctuations, thermal processes, oxygen conditions, ice phenomena, changes in water fertility, salinity levels and others. Artificial water bodies in Poland mostly serve numerous functions despite the many environmental protection problems related to the lentic water environment, e.g. eutrophication, salinisation. Together with their immediate surroundings, they fulfil important natural and landscape roles. Storage reservoirs are used primarily for economic purposes such as water supply, flood protection, recreation and tourism, the breeding of fish and other aquatic organisms, energy production, inland transport, the extraction of mineral resources, etc.