Review and update of the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan

Drought is one of the most severe natural phenomena that affects society, the environment and the economy. Similar to floods, although not in such a conspicuous way, droughts cause huge losses. In extreme cases, they can lead to a permanent water shortage with difficult-to-estimate, even civilizational consequences. To ensure that we do not run out of water in adequate quantity and quality in the future, we need to act now.

The first national-level planning document that focuses on minimizing the effects of drought is the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan. On September 3, 2021, the Minister responsible for water management published a regulation on the adoption of the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan (Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of July 15, 2021 on the adoption of the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan, Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1615). https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/download.xsp/WDU20210001615/O/D20211615.pdf 
In accordance with the Water Law Act, this document will be updated at least once every 6 years. The project “Review and update of the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan” (uDECP) is an example of such an update.

Within the Project entitled: “Review and update of the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan,” 5 main tasks are planned for implementation:

  1. Update of the methodology “Updating the study: Protection against drought in water management planning – methodology of conduct” from October 2017;
  2. Preparation of a draft update of the DECP, taking into account the division of the country into river basin areas;
  3. Conducting a strategic environmental impact assessment;
  4. Providing promotion and information;
  5. Substantive support services in the implementation of the Project: “Review and update of the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan.”

According to art. 184 sec. 2 of the Water Law Act, the Drought Effects Counteracting Plan includes:

  • analysis of the possibilities of increasing available water resources – where and in what quantity we have available water resources
  • proposals for the construction or reconstruction of water facilities – what investments are needed to increase the amount of water resources
  • proposals for necessary changes in the use of water resources and changes in natural and artificial retention – what technical and non-technical measures can increase the capacity to retain water
  • catalog of measures to counteract the effects of drought – specific directions, actions and solutions to be implemented with an indication of their location, divided into preparation and response phases