Nature Conservation 5/2009 — 21. 10. 2009 — On Nature in the Czech Republic — Print article in pdf
General Plan of Surface Water Accumulation Protected Areas
The General Plan for Surface Water Accumulation Areas is considered to be an adaptation measure to climate change in water management in the Czech Republic.
Act No. 254/2001 Gazette on Water and on Amendments to Some Acts (The Water Act) imposes developing the above document on the Ministry of the Agriculture of the Czech Republic, by agreement with the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic. Within the plan, the sites were selected in two categories. The Category A includes sites/areas suitable for accumulating drinking water while the Category B aims at accumulating water for flood protection and prevention, water abstraction and for improving flow rates. The Ministry of Agriculture proposed a list of the sites to be protected. The Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic assessed whether there are conflicts with nature conservation and landscape protection interests at any site/area. From original 186 sites/areas, two thirds had to be deleted from the list, because of their insufficient water management potential or of conflicts with nature conservation and landscape protection interests. Currently, 69 sites/areas are proposed to be protected. The General Plan shall be approved by the end of 2009 and it will become a part of the Spatial Development Policy of the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, almost half of the sites selected are in the significant conflict with nature conservation and landscape protection interests. When negotiating sites or amending the General Plan, the Ministry of the Environment and its bodies shall aim at implementing small-size measures, supporting water accumulation and retention, e.g. building a series of small water reservoirs, stream restoration and erosion protection, which can contribute to solving the water scarcity in the particular area.Building new larger water reservoirs as flood and drought protection ways, but affecting nature and the landscape as well as human settlements and other public interests, should be the last possibility, after exhausting all the available tools for improving natural water retention capacity of the landscape using nature- or semi-nature based measures and environmentally friendly management.