Prague, March 22 (CTK) – Groundwater reserves have been dramatically declining in the Czech Republic and if the drought of the past three years continues, the country will have a real problem, Environment Minister Richard Brabec (ANO) told Wednesday’s issue of daily Pravo.
A drought of several years as well as possible excessive consumption may threaten up to two thirds of the territory of the Czech Republic, Pravo writes referring to the results of a six-year study, in which hundreds of experts took part.
Pravo carries the article on World Water Day.
It writes that the unique study was made by the Czech Geological Survey (CGS) for more than half a billion crowns.
Referring to its sources, Pravo writes that the study is to be used in the drafting of a concept of protection against the impact of drought.
The Environment Ministry wants to submit the draft to the government by the end of June, Pravo writes.
Brabec said there are no big groundwater reserves on two thirds of the country’s territory, which is due to the geological structure of the substratum.
In these areas, the country depends on “shallow aquifers” where precipitation plays a great role in refilling groundwater.
Brabec said the situation may require huge investments in new water sources and the interconnection of the systems of waterworks between whole regions because there may be no water in some of them.
“On the rest of the territory there are certain reserves and we know the number of them. We also know that where the pumping of water to other places threatens these reserves and on the contrary, from where we will be able to take water away to places where there will be not any in the future,” Brabec said.
Every other Czech drinks groundwater, which is the highest quality source because it passes through the soil and rock filter, Pravo writes.
It adds that groundwater forms more than a half of drinking water sources.
During the past 30 years, the climatic conditions have been changing. The temperature of the air is growing, it predominantly rains in summer when the vegetation drains a big portion of rainwater. It is more difficult for it to get underground or it evaporates, Pravo writes.
The study also alerts to the fact that water resources officers must take less groundwater from protected nature areas in order not to damage the protected water ecosystems, Pravo writes.
CGS director Zdenek Venera told it that the state did not pay attention to groundwater reserves in the past 20 years, while being the owner of water, the state decides who and how can handle it.
The artificial infiltration of water as it functions in the Karany catching area, which is a strategic source of drinking water for Prague and Central Bohemia, would be one of the ways of raising the groundwater reserves, Venera said.
The costs of the study, which mapped only one third of the territory of the Czech Republic, were covered by the State Environment Fund and the Environment Ministry.
Part in it was also taken by scientific institutions as well as commercial firms, including the T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute which provided data, and the Technical University of Ostrava, Pravo writes.
