The Gniezno Lake District dries. The State Forests have a rescue plan

Representatives of the local government, that PAK and State Forests signed on Tuesday in Skorzęcin a letter of intent regarding investments that are to accelerate the flooding of mined open -pitches in Greater Poland. A design worth about PLN 70 million is to save the drying lake of the Gniezno Lake District.

The signatories of the letter were self-governments gathered at the Powidz Landscape Park, fuel and energy group from PAK, the owner of the brown coal mine, and representatives of the State Forests.

“There is no life without water, there are also our local economies and valuable natural resources. For centuries, our small homelands have developed thanks to the location over beautiful and large lakes (…). The project we want to cooperate with has retention significance first,” said the president of the Association and the Head of the Powidz Commune Jakub Gwit on Tuesday.

As part of the project, a number of investments will be carried out enabling water metastasis from Warta to the modified tanks “Kleczew”, “Roztoka” and “Jóźwin IIb” – said the director of the Department of Environmental Protection with PAK Paweł Szadek on Tuesday. The water is to be taken when the high states are found in the river, followed by a system of pumping stations and pipelines supplied to the tanks, including the most -flooded, the largest in the region, the “Jóźwin IIb” reservoir. The longest, 9.5-kilometer pipeline will connect Lake Gosławskie with the “Kleczew” tank.

As explained on Tuesday prof. dr hab. Jan Przybyłek from the Institute of Geology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, the project will improve the state of lakes in the Gniezno Lake District. The funnel of depression caused by the many years of mine's activities in the region is about 350 km. In 25 years of the open -pit “Jóźwin IIb”, about 785 million cubic meters were pumped from the region. water. Supplementing these shortcomings, according to the calculations of prof. Przybyłka can take up to 55 years in a pessimistic scenario. However, in the case of pumping water from Warta, this time can be shortened to about 10 years. Currently, the tank is filled in 14 percent.

The first letter of intent regarding the hydrological project in eastern Greater Poland was signed in 2022. He founded several dozen investments; Water metastasis from Warta to excavations after the “Konin” brown coal mine was to be the largest of them. At the end of October last year, the Regional Water Management Board in Poznań announced its verification. Of the 25 planned tasks, only five were considered necessary for implementation. The institution estimated that the project was to be conducive to the reclamation of brown coal explorers.

After the withdrawal of Polish waters from the implementation of the project, local government officials have signaled. The new leader of the project, according to the letter of intent signed on Tuesday, became the Powidz Landscape Park Association.

As Gwit donated, the Association will apply for funding for investments from the EU Fund for Just Transformation (FST). In his budget, the amount of about PLN 120 million is still reserved, which was to be allocated to the original, more extensive version of the project. According to the estimates of the Plenipotentiary of the Board of the Wielkopolska Voivodship, Maciej Sytek, approx. PLN 60-70 million, is needed to implement the water transfer from Warta. FST can come to 70 percent. funds; The rest is expected by the signatories of the letter.

Currently, PAK is preparing an environmental report on an investment that is to be ready this fall. Then there must be a water permit and building permit. Ready documents are to be then forwarded to the association, which with their help will submit an application to FST.

In the last dozen or so years, the water level in the lakes of the Gniezno Lake District has fallen regularly. The water mirror in Lake Wilczyński decreased by about 6 m, in Lake Ostrowskie by about 4.6 m, in Lake Budzisławskie by nearly 4 m, and in Powidz Lake at about 1 m. One of the factors affecting this situation were the opening of the opening of the brown coal mine “Konin”. Mining has already been completed in them, and the process of their reclamation is currently underway. (PAP)

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