Utility of Water-Based Databases for Underground Water Management: Legal and System Perspective

Anna Klimach () and Elżbieta Zębek
Additional contact information
Anna Klimach: Department of Land Management, Institute of Spatial Management and Geography, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Prawochenskiego Street 15, 10-724 Olsztyn, Poland
Elżbieta Zębek: Department of Economic Law and Company Law, Faculty of law and Administration, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Dybowski 13, 10-723 Olsztyn, Poland

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-24

Abstract: Groundwater is a strategic environmental resource due to its use to human consumption, and therefore requires special protection and monitoring in many databases. In Poland, groundwater data are included in different typical water-related databases such as Hydroportal, Portal of the State Hydrogeological Service and Portal of the Central Geological Database, which is linked to an integrated real estate information system (IREIS). This article aims to demonstrate how IREIS is used to manage groundwater in Poland. The analysis indicates that shortcomings and gaps are noticeable, e.g., duplication of data and significant lack of data necessary for the implementation of the legal instruments. It is therefore a priority to establish a harmonised permitting and sustainable management of resources by public authorities, supported by an appropriate information and resource system for the EU. There is a need for an increase in the amount of information in databases and a reduction in the number of databases with groundwater information. The results of the analysis of these information systems can provide guidance to other EU countries for more effective groundwater protection and management.

Keywords: groundwater; water management information system; IREIS; legal instruments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4608/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4608/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4608-:d:1404571

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().