The construction of the next water level on the Vistula, above the existing dam in Włocławek, is an element of the River cascading plan that is still reaching the PRL. He returned to him during PiS rule despite protests of non -governmental organizations – according to which construction is not only harmful to the environment, but also without sense.
According to PiS plans, construction was to cost first PLN 5.4 billion, then 7.5 billion, and the latest estimates say about 10 billion.
Saga siarzewa
At the end of last year, the General Director of Environmental Protection he refused to make a decision environmental for the construction of a firewall on the Vistula in Siarzewo. Lack of decision means that a building permit cannot be issued, so it is in fact the fall of the current project. Provided that the court does not support the conclusion of Polish waters that appealed against the decision of GDOŚ.
GDOŚ refused to make a decision due to serious deficiencies in the application. Among other things, it has not been proved in it that the purpose of the investment cannot be achieved by other means that interfere in the environment less. It is known that the dam will have a negative impact, among others for several areas of Natura 2000.
This is only the latest episode of the long saga of the dispute around the dam. The first environmental decision (the application for it was submitted during PiS rule) was issued in 2017. Non -governmental organizations appealed. After a few years, the then minister of climate Michał Kurtyka annulled the decision, and later the Provincial Administrative Court – at the request of Polish waters – annulled the minister's decision.
It seemed that the decision from last year ends the subject of Siarzew – GDOŚ refused to issue an environmental decision, and there is no PiS who was involved in the implementation of the project. However, despite the change of power, the attitude of Polish waters has not changed.
Despite the decision of GDOŚ and the criticism of the Polish Waters and the Ministry of Infrastructure, they declare that they are still working on a dam in Siarzewo. On Thursday, on the parliamentary subcommittee, representatives of the ministry and the Polish waters declared that the construction of the dam in Siarzewo “remains in the investment plans”. Polish Waters Vice President Mateusz Balcerowicz emphasized that the construction of the rank is entered both in the resolution of the Council of Ministers (adopted as PiS and unchanged by the current government) as well as current plans for flood protection.
The construction of the dam not only officially remains the government's plan, but is also supported by local deputies – and on the subcommittee both Anna Gembicka from PiS and Piotr Kowal from the left spoke positively about the dam. While PiS has been talking about support for the construction of the dam for years, the left in its program promised something completely the opposite – a departure from “concreting rivers” and focusing on natural solutions.
Why the dam for?
The whole concept of cascading the Vistula dates back to the times of the Polish People's Republic and years. 60. The dam in Włocławek was its first stage. – The so -called background is created in the cascade – that is, water in the tank, piled up by a water rank, somehow supports the previous higher level. In 1970, a water rank in Włocławek was commissioned, but the next planned stasks were never created – Hydrologist Artur Magnuszewski said in an interview with Gazeta.pl.
One of the arguments for the construction of Siarzew is the “protection” of the existing dam. The Siarzewo rank is to be needed to produce back, support the degree in Włocławek. The dam is also to be an element of flood protection.
In addition – according to supporters of the idea – it is to help prevent drought and constitute an element of flood protection. The cascading of the Vistula would also allow the development of a waterway and river transport. In addition, a hydroelectric power plant would be created at the dam.
Polish Waters have assured that for today the technical condition of the dam in Włocławek does not threaten safety. Below this degree is the erosion of the DNA of the Vistula and requires actions – and Polish Waters are planning to renovate the connecting threshold, which limits the problem.
Losses and no benefits
NGOs and ecological organizations, including WWF Polska. In 2021, on the occasion of the discussion about Siarzew, she published expert opinions about the project. One of the arguments is the destruction of the natural environment.
“After 50 years of exploitation of the water rank in Włocławek, many problems stratified that they must be solved. Continuation of the construction of the degree in Siarzewo is the simplest road, and at the same time the least economically profitable and unfriendly to the environment. Despite the assurances that it will be the last water rank on the Vistula, It can also be a blind alley, because after a few or several years of operation of a potential degree in A similar, imaginary need to build the next degree, to support existing ones, will appear, “wrote prof. dr hab. Mariusz Lamentowicz from the Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences, University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań.
Some hydrologists – like Artur Magnuszewski – believe that, despite all reservations, the new firewall must be built for safety reasons for the firewall in Włocławek. On the other hand, there are arguments that the last modernizations secure the existing dam. And some say that the long -term solution should be not to build a new dam, but dismantling this in Włocławek.
Hydrologist dr hab. Andrzej Mikulski estimated that the new reservoir “will significantly reduce the already strongly limited ecological patency of the Vistula, ultimately preventing the restitution of traveling fish population.”
According to non -governmental organizations, the dam and tank will not contribute to the prevention of drought or to deal with flooding. And the waterway – which, according to PiS's plans, would connect the Baltic with the Black Sea by Belarus and Ukraine – is a fantasy. Although on Thursday on the parliamentary commission there were arguments about drought protection, it was also reminded that even according to government documents, the firewall could increase the level of groundwater at a distance of three km from the tank, without affecting a wider region.
The production of electricity from a hydroelectric power plant built with a dam would be marginal. The planned power installed power plant is 80 MW, which is the same as several large wind turbines, currently built in the Baltic.