Diagnosis Of The Impact Of The Gabčíkovo Water Project On Soil Water Regime In The Surroundings

Abstract

Rye Island is a unique natural formation, which lies between the main flow of the Danube River and the Little Danube River and is the largest river island in Europe. It is located in the southwest of Slovakia and with its mild to slightly warm climate is one of the most fertile agricultural areas in Slovakia. The whole Rye Island is also our greatest reservoir of quality waters used for drinking purposes, where groundwaters of Rye Island are permanently supplied with water from the Danube River. It means that as water levels in the Danube River were unstable before the construction of the Gabčíkovo Water Project, also the groundwater level faced large fluctuations. Changes occurred after putting the Gabčíkovo Water Project into service, with a decrease in groundwater levels. Thereby, the conditions for agriculture have improved and drying of surrounding protected floodplain forests has stopped. Through the present contribution we decided to analyse the impact of Gabčíkovo on soil water regime in the area of Rye Island, and evaluate the course of groundwater level, precipitation and soil water storage over time. For the representative area we chose a forest ecosystem of Král’ovská Lúka and evaluated the period 1999 to 2009.

Groundwater response to extreme flows in the Danube River

“…After the construction of the Gabčíkovo hydropower plant, the effect of the backwater of the reservoir is extended upstream up to Bratislava, i.e., the water level in the Danube is increased so as the groundwater at the vicinity of the river (Mucha et al, 1999). In addition, the groundwater regime became more stable after the implementation of the structure (Jarabicová et al, 2014). The process of this interaction is mostly very complex to solve.…”