Water partnerships

CHALLENGE DESCRIPTION Preparing Polish agriculture for the ongoing climate change is an extremely necessary task that requires the involvement of not only the administration at all levels, but above all the water users themselves, whose decisions directly affect the quantity and quality of water in agriculture and in rural areas. In view of the prevailing droughts and water shortages, it becomes a common good and a good of strategic importance, and in this context, we should treat its resources as a heritage, because the quality of life of today’s and future generations living in the Polish countryside will depend on our actions in water management. In the era of climate change, the problem of access to water, in particular to clean water, will intensify (lower rainfall, drainage of watercourses). If you want to take action in the field of broadly understood rational water management, it is extremely important to obtain information on: water resources in a given area, meteorological forecasts for the current growing season, estimating the consumption and analysis of the rate of water recovery. It is also important to disseminate good practices that optimize water consumption, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the methods of its collection in periods of excess (rainstorms, thaws) and use in periods of shortage. Rational water management requires taking into account all the needs of the inhabitants, with particular emphasis on agricultural production, which determines the country’s food security.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLUTION In order to be able to diagnose the condition of water management and be able to take actions aimed at developing methods of rational water management, all water managers in a given area and water users must establish cooperation and jointly act for sustainable water management.
Overall goal: The aim of the operation „Support for the creation of local partnerships for water” is, on the one hand, to create the first cooperation network in Poland between the local society in the field of water management, and on the other hand, to provide innovative support for LPW activities by creating an expert team, which would include, among others, representatives of science, whose task would be to develop the rules for the formation of SLA, support in training and the development of the final report on the activities of the pilot group with an indication of innovative solutions enabling rational water management in agriculture and rural areas. As advisers from Agricultural Advisory Centers have extensive experience in activities in agriculture and rural areas, as part of the operation, we would like to prepare both coordinators of the emerging LPW and water advisers from 16 WODR, whose task would be to initiate local activities in the field of water management.

Detailed objectives:

• Activation and integration of local communities through mutual understanding of the scope of activities and needs.
• Diagnosis of the situation in the field of water resource management in terms of the needs of agriculture and rural residents.
• Developing common solutions to improve the broadly understood water management in agriculture and rural areas.
• Development of proposals for the future legal and organizational framework for the operation of the LPW structures, with the same tasks throughout the country.
• Preparation of a diagnostic report on the poviat area.
  

Intended effects of the project implementation:

• Activating local communities to undertake joint actions for sustainable water management and reduction of water pollution.
• Diagnosing the resources of 16 counties and analyzing the main problems related to water in these areas. Collection of proposed solutions from members of the newly created LPW, which will be the basis for presenting recommendations and developing a model for the functioning of future LPW throughout the country.
• Formation of 16 pilot local water partnerships.
• Creation of a water thematic network with the participation of LPW to strengthen the flow of knowledge and innovation in agriculture with the participation of agricultural advisory services, science, local governments, farmers and public entities.
• Dissemination of the problem of sustainable water management among farmers and inhabitants of rural areas.
• Dissemination of good practices related to the use of water, collection and saving.

POSSIBILITY OF ADAPTING THE SOLUTION The project is nationwide. After the implementation of pilot projects in 16 poviats, it is planned to establish pilot LPW in each voivodeship.