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 The Upper Hornád River. The river is an increasingly important body of water in the eastern Slovak Republic. The river serves to supply domestic water and supports an important fishery. Also, as tourism begins to increase in the area, maintaining acceptable water quality in the river will become increasingly important.
The objective of the study is to create a water quality model to help prepare alternative solutions for protection of the Upper Hornád River. 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 ooint 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. The model was used to assess the accumulation, assimilation and routing of ammonia in the watershed. All other conventional constituents (e.g. other nitrogen forms, phosphorus, BOD) were also modeled to best represent the inter-relationships between these substances in flowing waters. The calibrated water quality model was used to determine the effect of ammonia loads entering the river. The results show that only two of the significant point sources are causing the river to exceed water quality standards; the municipal discharges from Spišská Nová Ves and Levoca. A recommendation was made that both of the wastewater facilities at the Cities of Levoca and Spišská Nová Ves must be upgraded to remove ammonia from their discharges. The recommended treatment option was to use integrated bacterial assimilation into the secondary treatment process.
Details can be found in the technical report (Acrobat PDF)
The information has also been published in Communicating Sustainability (2000) published by Peter Lang Scientific Publishers (Bern) titled "A Water Pollution Control Approach Applied in the Slovak Republic".
Steve Butkus.
info@living-earth.org
LEI Project Manager
Contact LEI: info@living-earth.org