Poland’s Water Resources and the Ecological Safety

The notion of ecological safety was defined at the end of 20th century. Such a need resulted from the steady deterioration in the condition of the natural environment in local, regional and global dimensions. These changes led to a substantial reuction in the resources of clean air, soil and water. Poland belongs to countries having scarce water resources. This fact, not yest fully realized, can become an essential barrier to future growth. The storage capacity of the impounding reservoirs and the available per capita water resources lag considerably behind the mean values of theses indicators for the OECD and EU countries.

In the paper, the quantitative condition of the surfac and underground waters was presented. Directions of indispensable measures towards protection of the water resources were laid down. Attention was drawn to the new threat to water resources arising from terrorism.