The meeting in Stalowa Wola closed the series of debates within the public consultations of the drafts of the updated flood risk management plans (uFRMP) for the water region of the Upper-Eastern Vistula. In the whole region, there are 170 flood-protection activities planned altogether, including 27 near Stalowa Wola and Przemyśl.
During all the meetings in this region, Małgorzata Bogucka-Szymalska, deputy director of the Department of Water Management and Inland Navigation at the Ministry of Infrastructure, stressed the significance of public consultations for the entire process of updating flood risk management plans. The public consultations concerning the drafts of the updated flood risk management plans, announced by the Minister of Infrastructure and coordinated by Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie, started on 22 December 2020 and will last until 22 June this year. The consultation meetings concerning uFRMP will be held in 28 towns and cities in Poland. Due to the pandemics, they are held on-line. This applied also to the meetings in the water region of the Upper-Eastern Vistula, i.e. in Rzeszów, Jasło and Stalowa Wola. The drafts of updated plans, complemented with the requests and comments submitted during the consultations (they can be submitted e.g. using a form on www.stoppowodzi.pl), should be adopted in December 2021 in the form of regulations by the minister competent for water management.
Region conducive to flood hazard
The water region of the Upper-Eastern Vistula, covering the Subcarpathian voivodeship, has the natural conditions conducive to the flood hazard. The areas particularly threatened with flood comprise close to 5% of the voivodeship area. This is mainly due to significant slopes in the upstream sections of the rivers, conducive to the rapid flow of water and the low surface and ground retention. The flood risk in the poviat district of Stalowa Wola is caused primarily by two large rivers, i.e. the Vistula and its tributaries in 17 places and the San and its tributaries in 21 places. Those are the regions where the activities planned in uFRMP are located. Most of them (22) are technical. They are usually repairs, modernisations and expansions of embankments. The most important of them include the alteration of the right and left embankment of the Łęg river in Grębów commune in the poviat district of Tarnobrzeg; construction of the right embankment of the San in Pysznica Sudoły from the railway embankment for Rozwadów-Biłgoraj railroad; flood protection of flood-threatened areas situated along the Osa river in Kępie Zaleszańskie, Kotowa Wola, Obojna in the commune of Zaleszany, Jamnica in the commune of Grębów; expansion of the right embankment of the Osa river in Kępie Zaleszańskie; sealing, modernisation, levelling of local height differences of the right embankment crest of the San in Żabno, Wola Rzeczycka, Kępa Rzeczycka, Długa, Brandwica, Chłopska Wola, Pysznica and Zasanie, Rzeczyca Okrągła, Rzeczyca; expansion of the embankments of the left and right bank of the Babulówka river in Dymitrów Duży in the commune of Baranów Sandomierski as well as sealing, heightening and modernisation of the body of the left embankment of the San river in the commune of Stalowa Wola and Zaleszany in the poviat district of Stalowa Wola.
Every contribution matters
“The activities planned in the updated FRMP are closely interrelated and are a consistent continuation of the process of flood-protection infrastructure rebuilding carried out since 2018, including e.g. the completed tasks Wisła 1, Wisła stage 2, San III or Trześniówka V. In Wody Polskie, every project activity is always preceded by thorough analyses and the preparation of the concept design and the technical documents. Such activities in the updated plans include e.g. the concept designs and technical documents of the modernisation of the flood embankments of the Trześniówka river in its upstream section, flood protection in the valley of the Łęg river by the construction of multi-purpose flood control reservoirs and the flood-protection in the catchment area of the Stupnica creek, the commune of Bircza. This is when the comments and requests submitted by stakeholders are the most reasonable and effective. We appreciate any contribution”, said Małgorzata Wajda, director of Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie, Regionalny Zarząd Gospodarki Wodnej in Rzeszów.
More than 1,100 activities in Poland
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. So far, the public consultations connected with uFRMP were held in Kraków, Nowy Sącz, Gliwice, Pszczyna, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poznań and Kalisz, Rzeszów and Jasło. The subsequent debates will be held on 7–8 April in Białystok and Olsztyn. The information on uFRMP consultations is published on www.stoppowodzi.pl.