The Living Earth Institute (LEI) in a cooperative project with the SOSNA-the Center for Sustainable Alternatives and the Technical University at Košice conducted with a technical analysis of pollution in Upper Hornad River Watershed in the Slovak Republic. These results have been provided to the Slovak Environmental Agency, the Bodrog and Hornád River Watershed Management Company and the Slovak Hydrometerological Institute. This project was partially funded by the National Forum Foundation.
The goal of this study is to develop a recommendation for a pollution control strategy to help protect the beneficial uses of Ruzín Reservoir. The reservoir is an increasingly important body of water in the eastern Slovak Republic. The reservoir serves to supply domestic water and is increasingly being used for recreational purposes. As tourism begins to increase in the area, maintaining acceptable water quality in the reservoir will become increasingly important.
The main objective of the study is to create a water quality model to help prepare alternative solutions for protection of Ruzín Reservoir. A second objective is to attempt applying a different management approach to pollution control than has been used previously in the Slovak Republic. Various pollution control alternatives can be assessed using the water quality model. These alternatives can then be posed in community forums for discussion. When local acceptance of an alternative begins to form, implementation of the pollution controls should be easier to achieve than if the controls were mandated from the government.
The study area covers the upper Hornád River watershed upstream of Ruzín Reservoir in the eastern Slovak Republic. The upper Hornád River watershed was delineated into 17 subbasins for modeling analysis. Land cover data were obtained from the third hierarchy CORINE geographic information system coverage developed from the European Phare Project methodology. This land cover information was intersected with the subbasin delineation to allow modeling of nonpoint source phosphorus loads within each area. Significant point source discharge locations were identified on the rivers and streams in the watershed, treatment levels were estimated, and expected nutrient loads were compiled from published technical literature. A one dimensional, steady-state stream water quality model that has been widely used to determine pollutant loading and response in rivers and streams was calibrated and verified for the upper Hornád River watershed. All conventional constituents (e.g. other nitrogen forms, phosphorus, BOD) were modeled to best represent the inter-relationships between these substances in flowing waters. The model was used to determine the relative phosphorus loads entering Ruzín reservoir. Loads were determined for each subbasin and various pollution source categories. The results show that over two-thirds of the phosphorus load to the reservoir comes from three municipal point sources within the watershed. The recommendation is made that to protect Ruzín Reservoir from eutrophication that either tertiary treatment for phosphorus removal or complete removal of the discharges of the municipal wastewater from the cities of Spišská Nová Ves, Levoca, and Krompachy.
Details can be found in the technical report (Acrobat PDF)
The information has also been published in the Journal of Lake and Reservoir Management (1999) under the title of Applying a Western Water Quality Management Approach in Post-Soviet Eastern Bloc Europe.
Steve Butkus
LEI Project Manager
info@living-earth.org