The removal of dams and reservoirs may seem to be an unforeseen and sometimes controversial step in water management. The removal of barriers may be different for each country or region, as each differs greatly in terms of politics, economy and social and cultural awareness. This paper addresses the complex problem of removing dams on rivers and their connected reservoirs. We demonstrate the scales of the changes, including their major ecological, economic, and social impacts. Arguments and approaches to this problem vary across states and regions, depending on the political system, economy and culture, as confirmed by the qualitative and quantitative intensities of the dam removal process and its global geographical variation. The results indicate that the removal of dams on rivers and their connected reservoirs applies predominantly to smaller structures (< 2.5 m). The existing examples provide an important conclusion that dams and reservoirs should be considered with regard to the interrelations between people and the environment. Decisions to deconstruct hydraulic engineering structures (or, likewise, to construct them) have to be applied with scrutiny. Furthermore, all decision-making processes have to be consistent and unified and thus developed to improve the lack of strategies currently implemented across world.
Agricultural activity results in ground and surface water pollution from nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, which results from the excessive use of fertilizers containing these ingredients [1,2]. High concentrations of nitrogen compounds pose a threat to animal and human health and, in the case of surface waters (lakes, seas, and rivers), these pollutants can lead to eutrophication, which disturbs the ecological balance of the aquatic environment [3][4][5][6].Clean water is vital to human life and the proper functioning of natural ecosystems; as a result, the protection of water quality is one of the priorities identified by the European strategy for environmental protection. To protect water from nitrogen pollution, the EU member states are obliged to comply with the Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC).Pol. J. Environ. Stud. Vol. 24, No. 1 (2015), [175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183][184] AbstractAgricultural activity results in water pollution from nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. Increased concentrations of nitrogen compounds pose a threat to animal and human health.The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of agriculture in a catchment basin on the level of surface water pollution from biogenic compounds.Spatial analysis of the land cover was conducted using GIS and was based on data from the Corine Land Cover databases.The study results indicated that high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds existed in the surface waters. In the surface water, high concentrations of biogenic compounds occurred in both primarily agricultural catchments and in urbanized drainage areas. Water may be regarded as eutrophicated or at high risk of eutrophication because the majority of the nitrate concentrations at the monitoring sites exceeded a limit of 10 mg·dm -3 NO 3 2-. Inadequate farming practices and poor sanitary conditions on farmsteads result in the leaching of biogenic substances into the water. To protect water from biogenic pollutants, it is necessary to adopt a new approach to fertilizer use and to improve the sanitary conditions of agricultural properties, which can be achieved by, among other things, the installation of drainage systems in rural areas. Our recommendations include the protection of river valleys as follows: by stopping deforestation, by preserving natural riparian vegetation, and by reducing the volume of intensified agricultural activity or introducing so-called "precision farming. "
Depending on climate conditions, bathymetry, basin morphology, management practices and other factors, some reservoirs are more or less prone to stratification, which can strongly affect both chemical and biological status of water. In the Goczalkowice Reservoir (the biggest dam reservoir in the south of Poland), water quality parameters, such as chlorophyll a concentration, change very dynamically. In the presented study, the Estuary, Lake and Coastal Ocean Model (ELCOM) was applied to simulate water thermodynamics in a period of summer and autumn when the highest concentrations of chlorophyll a were observed, based on the continuous water monitoring in the ZiZOZap project (Łaszczyca et al., 2011). The purpose of the application of ELCOM was to simulate the thermal stratification in the reservoir and to prepare a basis for analyses of the relationship between water thermodynamics and quality. Simulations allowed the identification of several short water mixing events in summer and the final mixing event at the end of summer. The study also included the first application of model results to analyse the relation of changes in water temperature with observed concentration of chlorophyll a (ChlA). Analysis confirmed that each water mixing event was followed by a significant increase in ChlA concentration.
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