Why do polands rivers flow north

There was no cooperation between these countries and the Vistula lost its importance as navigable waterway. There was, however, significant engineering activity in the northern part of the river, which was occupied by Prussia. Poland is the country of small water resources due to low precipitation and relatively high evaporation. One of the main problems in water management in Poland is small volume of retention reservoirs and high economic and social losses caused by floods and droughts.

Some people — mainly ecologists, regard the Vistula as a natural river. They consider that the Vistula, as Natural River, should be kept in this state and transferred to next generations. Water resources specialists do not regard the Vistula as Natural River, but as degraded one.

This degradation is rapidly developing and the river does not bring adequate economic advantages water supply, hydro-energy, navigation, flood protection as in other EU countries. Every new proposed water reservoir or hydraulic structure presents strong opposition from ecologists. Moreover nearly the whole run of the Vistula is covered by the program Natura This makes the development of any new hydraulic construction nearly impossible.

Polish Parliament regarding the Vistula as a very important river for our nature and economy established the year as the Year of Vistula River. The aim of this publication is to present basic characteristics of the Vistula and its catchment, hydrologic data, existing main hydraulic structures on the Vistula and on its tributaries and possible plans for the future development.

The remaining part of the catchment is in the territory of Belarus, Ukraine and Slovakia. The catchment of the Vistula, which is in Poland, is inhabited by about 20 million people. On this terrain there are many important cities, industrial centers, thermal power plants and agriculture areas, which require large amounts of water for their operation. The Vistula and its catchment vary along its course. This is caused by changing hydrologic conditions, configuration of the terrain, climatic conditions, hydraulic infrastructure and economy.

Taking into account these aspects the Vistula and its basin are divided into three different parts Figure 2. This division takes into account changing hydrologic conditions. The Upper Vistula and its catchment is from the river source to the tributary San. Along this course the Vistula receives several mountain tributaries which significantly change its discharge.

This section of the Vistula is km long and encompasses 46 thousand km 2. The Middle Vistula is km long and has the area of 89 thousand km 2. The end of the Middle Vistula run is at the location of Narew tributary. The Lower Vistula run and its catchment begin at the Narew tributary and terminates in the Bay of Gdansk.

The length of the Lower Vistula is km and its catchment amounts to 34 thousand km 2. Change of the Vistula discharge along its course is presented in Table 1. Gauge Tczew is about 30km from the Vistula mouth, however, downstream from Tczew there are no tributaries and outflows. Therefore discharge at this gauge can be considered as final. Such discharge was not observed at the outlet of the Vistula since the beginning of observation period. Baltic is a non-tidal sea, however, there are variations in water level along the Polish coast.

This variation is mainly due to wind upwelling and ranges up to 1. Its influence is observed in the cross-section of gauge Tczew. The variation of water levels in this cross-section for maximum and minimum discharge range to about 5m. Interesting hydrologic data concern the annual runoff of the Vistula to the sea. The following annual Vistula runoffs to the sea were observed: maximum Table 1 Characteristic discharge at the gauging stations along the Vistula course.

Source: IMGW. The unit runoffs of the Vistula and parts of its catchment show that Poland has very low water resources in comparison to other European countries.

These values for particular areas are as follows:. Climate in any catchment decides on hydrologic conditions and especially on water resources. The main meteorological factors which decide on the climate are: precipitation, air temperature and humidity. These data for the Vistula catchment are cited on the basis of The Atlas of the Climate of Poland , 3 compiled from 60 weather stations. The main climatic parameter is precipitation and its spatial and temporal distribution The highest precipitation, exceeding mm mean multiannual precipitation occurs in the mountains in the upper part of the catchment.

The lowest precipitation mm , has been recorded in central Poland. This is very important, because in this area agriculture plays dominant role. Slightly higher precipitation mm occurs at the mouth of the Vistula River. Uneven temporal distribution of precipitation was always observed in the Vistula catchment.

High values were observed in summer months in the mountains, which was the cause of frequent floods. Now we observe much higher differentiation of precipitation both in time and space. This is mainly due to climate changes. The mean annual long-term precipitation in the Vistula basin is estimated at mm. Distribution of the mean annual precipitation in Poland is shown in Figure 3. Land cover in a similar way as climatic conditions influences water resources and their management in the catchment.

The land cover in particular parts of the Vistula basin is shown in Figure 4. The area of the arable land is the most common in all parts of the catchment. Forests occupy smaller part of the catchment. In all three basin areas of the Vistula River, the land cover areas are similar. The forestation, which is very important for water retention is the highest in the catchment area of the Upper Vistula.

The highest portion of arable land is to be found in the catchment area of the Lower Vistula. Water resources management in any form like water supply, hydro-energy, inland navigation, flood protection, cooling water systems or recreation require the assistance of various hydraulic structures. These are dams, weirs, navigation locks, flood dykes, training structures or recreation water facilities. Various types of hydraulic facilities were constructed in different times and with different aims on the Vistula River and on its tributaries.

The comprehensive review of these structures can be found in the monograph published on the occasion of the Year of Vistula River. The Czorsztyn-Niedzica Dam was commissioned in just before the advent of high flood wave on the Dunajec River right tributary of the Vistula. The flood wave filled the empty reservoir hm 3 and thus decreased flood danger downstream of the dam. Earthfill dam is located in km The dam is 54m high and is equipped with surface spillway and outlet works.

B altic Sea Land of Poland. Irregularly circular in shape, it is bordered to the north by the Baltic Sea, to the northeast by Russia and Lithuania, and to the east by Belarus and Ukraine.

Poland Polish: Polska is a country that extends across the North European Plain from the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south to the sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea in the north…. Geography of Poland. The Vistula is the largest and longest river in Poland. It empties into the Baltic Sea, the Vistula branches into several smaller rivers.

Large part of Oder River is navigable with the upstream canalized and permits large vessels to navigate the industrial sites around Wroclaw area. The river was recognized as the border between Poland and East Germany in after a long period of refusal. The river is connected to the Quaternary period during which the cooling off of the climate took place.