Meeting with general and professional public – Improving the condition of selected wetlands in the left-hand branch system of the Danube River

On January 30, 2023, on the occasion of the World Wetlands Day, we symbolically prepared in the premises of the Waterworks Museum, Bratislava a “Meeting with general and professional public” for the project “Improving the condition of selected wetlands in the left-hand branch system of the Danube River” – ACC04P06

The meeting was opened with speeches of Mr. Vladimír Kollár, Director General of VV, s. e., Mr. Jozef Krška, Director General of the project partner SVP, s. e., Ms. Martina Kurillová, Royal Norwegian Embassy and Mr. Denis Knotka, Programme Administrator SK-Climate „Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation”, Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic.

It was attended by more than 70 participants from the general and professional public, including representatives of organisations, Ministerstvo životného prostredia SR, Veľvyslanectvo Nórskeho kráľovstva, VODOHOSPODÁRSKA VÝSTAVBA, š. p., SLOVENSKÝ VODOHOSPODÁRSKY PODNIK, š. p., Úrad vlády SR – NIKA, VÝSKUMNÝ ÚSTAV VODNÉHO HOSPODÁRSTVA, Ministerstvo pôdohospodárstva a rozvoja vidieka SR, Štátna ochrana prírody SR, Okresný úrad Dunajská streda, Bratislavský samosprávny kraj, Environmentálny fond, Konzultačná skupina podzemná voda, Bratislavské regionálne ochranárske združenie – BROZ, Metropolitný inštitút Bratislava, Stavebná fakulta STU v Bratislave, SOŠ Ivánka pri Dunaji, Slovenská akadémia vied, ÚH SAV, GÚ SAV, CBRB SAV, Lesy SR – OZ Podunajsko, LS Gabčíkovo, OZ Karpaty, Asociácia bratislavských vodáckych klubov, RTVS – Sl. rozhlas.

At the beginning of the presentation part Ing. Supeková (SVP) by her presentation returned us to the history, when the Danube river system was a complex of arms changing in time and space. During the speech, she took the participants through historical maps of the development of the territory, through the formation of the current zoning of the left-hand branch system and introduced the participants towards the issue of maintaining its good condition by implementing the activities determined in the strategic, conceptual and planning documents such as: Water Plan of the Slovak Republic for the years 2021-2027 (approved by the Government Office of the Slovak Republic No. 319/2022 on 11.05.2022), Concept of Water Policy for the years 2021-2030 with a view to 2050 (approved by the Government Office of the Slovak Republic No. 372/2022 on 01.06.2022) and Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy of Adaptation of the Slovak Republic to Climate Change (31.08.2021, Government Office of the Slovak Republic No. 476/2021).

Mgr. Mravcová (VÚVH) informed the participants about the basis and proposal of measures for restoration of the flow rate and longitudinal continuity in the Danube river system and also briefly mentioned another ongoing integrated project in the environmental field.

Mgr. Kažimír (VV) introduced the project partners, general information about the project, about the project financing, its benefits and the current status. He informed the attendees that the project “Improving the condition of selected wetlands in the left-hand branch system of the Danube River” – ACC04P06 benefits from a € 429 244 grant from Norway through the Norway Grants. The project has been co-financed from the State Budget of the Slovak Republic in the amount of € 75 749. He informed that the Management plan of the affected area – will be set to the specific mode of operation of the restored wetlands site to ensure the maximum ecological effect on the restored wetland ecosystems. In 2022, the project documentation for the selected technical solution was prepared by the project partner SVP, s. e. Currently, the permitting process for the implementation of the construction modifications is underway. This year we are still waiting for the public procurement for the contractor and realization.

About the final technical solution, which was worked into the project documentation spoke Ing. Frankovský, head designer of the project partner SVP, s. e. He presented the presentation of the authors: P. Frankovský, J. Klučinec, R. Mikuš (SVP), where he introduced the conceptual and final technical solution of the project – Line G – proposal for the reconstruction of the dam G1 and Line H – proposal for the reconstruction of the dam H1. He presented the area of interest from the point of view of – location, nature protection, ownership relations, the process of creating the final variant and informed about the further progress towards the realization.

At the end of the meeting, a short discussion on the additional information took place. Within the discussion, also spoke the Member of Parliament of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, RNDr. Anna Zemanová, who expressed her satisfaction with the realization of the project in this valuable area and also expressed her thanks that water tourism and boaters were also considered. The participants expressed their satisfaction that the partner companies are implementing an environmental project aimed at the restoration of wetland biotopes in such an important area as the Dunajské luhy, which belongs among the most famous Ramsar sites in Slovakia, and at the same time they expressed their support for the successful realization of the project.