The flood-protection activities in the catchment area of the Wisłoka river is the most important problem discussed on 24 March in Jasło during public consultations of the drafts of the updated flood risk management plans (uFRMP). There are 170 activities planned altogether in the entire water region of the Upper-Eastern Vistula, including e.g. the basin of that right-bank tributary of the Vistula. Close to one half of them (79) refer to the Jasło region.
The meeting in Jasło took place within the public consultations of the drafts of the updated flood risk management plans (uFRMP) announced by the Minister of Infrastructure and coordinated by Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie. They started on 22 December 2020 and will last till 22 June this year. The meeting organisers receive the comments and requests concerning particular plans e.g. via the form on www.stoppowodzi.pl. Consultation meetings take place simultaneously. The debates will be held in as many as 28 towns and cities in Poland. By the end of April they will be held on-line due to the pandemics.
The major problem — the Wisłoka
The poviat district of Jasło has varied geographical location. Its northern part is uplands and the southern one mountainous. What is more, the poviat area is crossed by three large rivers with a rapid flow, including the Wisłoka, the Jasiołka and the Ropa. The two latter flow into the Wisłoka in Jasło which creates high flood hazard, particularly in the northern and eastern part of the town. During the flood in 2010, as much as 30% of the town was flooded. It rained for a couple of days then. In recent years, however, the so-called rapid floods are more frequent, e.g. the one in the poviat district of Jasło in June 2020, when the local rainfall was close to 160 litres of water per m2. In Jasło, the daily total rainfall reached a record level of 101.4 mm/m2, with close to 66 mm/m2 falling in just 2 hours. The previous record-breaking total daily rainfall on 20 May 1996 reached 81.6 mm.
“All those factors and the events resembling the previous year’s ones contribute to the fact that the whole range of projects, including repairs and modernisations of embankments and the development of concept designs of flood protections, will be focused on the Wisłoka. In the catchment area of the Wisłoka there are three dry flood-protection polders planned, including two on the Wielopolka above Ropczyce and one on the Budzisz creek to protect Sędziszów Małopolski. Construction of the water reservoir Kąty-Myscowa in the upper course of the river and the multi-purpose Dukla reservoir planned on the Jasiołka river are of significant importance for reducing the flood risk in the areas in the Wisłoka valley”, said Małgorzata Wajda, director of Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie, Regionalny Zarząd Gospodarki Wodnej in Rzeszów.
A long list of activities focused on the most important problem
The largest project is the construction of the above-mentioned multi-purpose (meaning designed not only to protect from flood, but also to alleviate drought effects) Kąty-Myscowa reservoir for ca. PLN 1 billion. However, obtaining the required administrative decisions and the construction will take at least a couple of years. This is not the only reservoir to be created in the region of Jasło. Subsequent planned dry polders include Broniszów and Glinik on the Wielopolka, a dry reservoir on the Młynówka and a multi-purpose Dukla reservoir on the Jasiołka. The costs of those projects are estimated to reach from several million PLN (Glinik polder – PLN 14.6 million) to several dozen million PLN (Broniszów – PLN 48 million, Dukla – PLN 36 million). Embankment modernisations and repairs, though much less spectacular, are also highly important for the flood safety improvement. The list of the discussed tasks is long. The most important of them include the expansion of the left embankment of the Wisłoka in Gawłuszowice, Sadkowa Góra, Borowa, Pławo, Orłów, Wola Pławska, Rzędzianowice; construction of the right-bank embankment of the Ropa in Biecz; embankment reinforcement in the old river beds by the anti-filtration protection of the body and the substrate along the whole left and right embankment of the Stary Breń river in Gliny Małe, Sadkowa Góra, Borowa, Łysakówek, Łysaków, Czermin; construction and modernisation of the Wisłoka embankment in Brzeźnica and the flood protection of areas situated on the Wisłoka river in the town and commune of Jasło and the commune of Dębowiec. Wody Polskie will spend more than PLN 110 million altogether for those activities.
The first updated of FRMP
The flood risk management plans (FRMP) are developed for 6 years. At present, they are updated for the first time. They include the most important activities concerning the safety of residents of the threatened areas. In Poland, this list contains more than 1,100 items planned for 2022–2027. Those are the documents attracting attention of the debate participants and all the stakeholders. The drafts of updated flood risk management plans, complemented with any requests and comments submitted during the consultations, should be accepted in December 2021 by the regulations of the minister competent for water management.
The public consultations of uFRMP are pending. The meeting in Jasło will be the eleventh debate. The meeting in Stalowa Wola will be held on 25 March. For more information on the consultation visit www.stoppowodzi.pl