Stanislaw Witczak

AGH University of Krakow | AGH · Department of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology

During transport from the field to the sea nitrogen undergoes natural reduction resulted mainly from denitrification, but with large spatial variations. In the present study, a mapfor spatially variable nitrate reduction in groundwater in the area of Poland is presented. The map was preparing following 3 steps: (i) identification of major hydrogeol...

The Kocinka River catchment underlain by the karstic-fissured Częstochowa aquifer in Southern Poland is the site of interdisciplinary research aimed at finding solutions to pollution of water resources with nutrients. These efforts are conducted in the framework of the BONUS Soils2Sea project that deals with the development of differentiated enviro...

Hydrological models can be useful tools simulating climate and land use changes and their impact on nutrients outflows from a catchment area. One of them is the HYPE (HYdrological Predictions for the Environment) water quality model applicable to different spatial scales. Groundwater recharge via infiltrating precipitation is a significant water bu...

Based on long–term research, the current hydrogeological conditions in the vicinity of the Wieliczka Salt Mine show a ­complex nature of documented water that is diverse in terms of salinity and age. Over time, there was an exchange of waters from those of the sedimentation period to infiltration waters. Brine used for balneotherapy in the spa of t...

The Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive aim at preserving and improving the groundwater status. Groundwater bodies are classified as being or not being at risk of failing to meet these objectives. Those at risk are subject to more precise risk assessment where the concept of vulnerability is considered in the pathway part of the sou...

Assessing vulnerability of groundwater to adverse effects of human impacts is one of the most important problems in applied hydrogeology. At the same time, many of the widespread vulnerability assessment methods do not provide physically meaningful and operational indicators of vulnerability. Therefore, this review summarizes (i) different methods...

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) have important functions in all climatic zones as they contribute to biological and landscape diversity and provide important economic and social services. Steadily growing anthropogenic pressure on groundwater resources creates a conflict situation between nature and man which are competing for clean and saf...

A dedicated study was launched in 2010 with the main aim to better understand the functioning of groundwater dependent terrestrial ecosystem (GDTE) located in southern Poland. The GDTE consists of a valuable forest stand (Niepolomice Forest) and associated wetland (Wielkie Bloto fen). A wide range of tools (environmental tracers, geochemistry, geop...

The European Groundwater Directive could be improved by limiting the scopes of the Annexes I and II to the manmade and natural substances, respectively, and by defining a common monitoring protocol. The changes in the European landuse patterns, in particular the urban sprawl phenomena, obscure the distinction between the point and diffuse sources o...

Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDE) are important elements of biodiversity and providers of valuable goods and services to society. Preservation of their environmental functions in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures on groundwater resources and progressive climate change depends on appropriate environmental policies and water resourc...

Thorough understanding of the link between terrestrial ecosystems and underlying groundwater reservoirs is an important element of sustainable management of groundwater resources in the light of ever growing anthropogenic pressure on groundwater reserves, both with respect to quantity and quality of this vital resource. While association of terrest...

Groundwater is an important source of potable water in many countries. While it covers ca. 50% of the global drinking water needs, in Europe this share is even higher, reaching approximately 70%. Nowadays, this strategic resource is at risk due to anthropogenic pollutants of various nature entering shallow aquifers. Proper management of groundwater...

The presented study was aimed at investigating possible interactions between the porous sandy aquifer intensively exploited for drinking water purposes and the groundwater dependent ecosystem (GDE) consisting of a valuable forest stand. The investigated aquifer (Bogucice Sands) and the associated GDE (Niepolomice Forest) are located in the south of...

Upper reaches of the Warta river, the third largest river in Poland, are located in a densely populated and industrialized area, with presence of heavy industry going back to the second half of the XIX century. Industrial activities include iron smelters in towns of Częstochowa and Zawiercie, large chemical plants (Rudniki and Aniolow) producing pr...

Sustainable groundwater development requires knowledge of the appropriate recharge and transport-processes. This is a prerequisite to understanding: (i) groundwater resources and their availability, and (ii) the dependence between groundwater and the environment. Conceptual understanding of groundwater flow at both temporal and spatial scales (loca...

Groundwater quality is becoming an important issue in many parts of the world. The status of groundwater quality in the given groundwater system can be addressed through quantitative analysis of its hydrogeochemical field in temporal and spatial domain. A quantitative, multi-stage classification of groundwater quality adopted in Poland is presented...

The methodology of intrinsic vulnerability evaluation of shallow groundwater applied to elaboration of the Groundwater Vulnerability Map of Poland (GVM) was described by Witczak et al. (2007). The approach assumes that vertical travel time of conservative contaminants through the vadose zone is the most important factor of the risk assessment. GVM...

Hydrogeological cartography, intensively developed in Poland over the last several years, is an essential tool for conducting hydrogeological, economic and environmental analysis of the conditions of groundwater occurrence, undertaken for designing new projects and hydrogeological investigation, design work and hydrogeological studies, looking for...

The salt mine in Wieliczka is a mining plant which is unique on the worldwide scale, which has been developing since the Middle Ages until the present times. The high geological complexity of bedrock in the vicinity of the mine, which is associated with the Carpathians orogeny, determines the high level of complexity of local hydrogeological condit...

The policy for delineation of the Major Groundwater Basins (MGWBs) was developed in Poland as early as the 1980s. MGWBs are the most important water-bearing structures that yield the highest water productivities and qualities and represent major regional sources of drinking water. To date, 163 MGWBs have been established and 60 of them have been do...

Multilayered Muszyna regional model was constructed in the ArcGIS and the GMS environment. Among the several methods for implementing the model in the GMS system the LPF method was used to create a structure of the model. Conceptual model is a spatial arrangement of the fixed structure, which can be automatically divided in grid blocks of different...

IntroductionGeology and hydrogeologyMethods Environmental tracers and modelling of timescalesHydrochemistry and its relations to timescalesConclusions References

Although radiocarbon is being used as a groundwater dating tool for more then four decades now, a number of questions related to this method still remains open. Among the problems not fully solved yet is the question of carbon isotope composition of the Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) pool in the infiltrating water recharging the given groundwater...

Although radiocarbon is being used as a groundwater dating tool for more then four decades now, a number of questions related to this method still remains open. Among the problems not fully solved yet is the question of carbon isotope composition of the Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) pool in the infiltrating water recharging the given groundwater...

The paper presents the concept behind and the methodology used in the production of the 1:500,000 groundwater vulnerability map of Poland. The approach assumes that vertical transport time through the vadose zone is the most important factor of the risk. The map is composed of three sheets referring to different elements of hydrogeological systems....

Sarmatian sands and buried Pleistocene valleys of the Kedzierzyn-Głubczyce Subtrough represent one of the main aquifers in southern Poland (MGWB-332 - Major Ground Water Basin). This aquifer is intensively exploited, supplying tap water for the human population and for industry in the whole area; but, being confined, it has no influence on the grou...

The common phenomenon in many parts of the world is nowadays a migration of anthropogenic pollutants through the unsaturated zone, originating from both point and diffuse sources. This process is of particular importance in heavily populated and industrialized regions, such as the European continent, where anthropogenic impact is persisting since m...

One of the largest native sulphur deposits in the world is located in Poland. Open-pits remain as, the result of the completed exploitation in the Piaseczno and Machow mines. These pits after being filled with water will serve for recreation purposes. Complex interactions between reservoirs, rivers (Vistula and Trzesniowka) and two groundwater syst...

Transport models based on calibrated flow models may often yield wrong predictions unless recalibrated with the aid of environmental tracers because migration velocity depends on the ratio of hydraulic conductivity to porosity whereas flow rates depend on transmissivity.

A comprehensive study of a sandy aquifer of deltaic origin in southern Poland included water chemistry, isotopes, dissolved trace gases and transport modelling. Tritium, sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and freons (F-11, F-12 and F-113) showed the presence of modern waters in the recharge areas and shallow confined parts of the aquifer. The presence of o...

The Żelazny Most dam, the biggest industrial dump in Europe, which serves as a recipient of copper ores flotation tailings, has been operating for 25 years. The area of the dam is 14 km2, volume 315×106 m3, and final volume up to 700×106 m3. The water from the dam seeps into an underlying phreatic porous aquifer. The aquifer is quite heterogeneous,...

A three-dimensional model of groundwater consistent with regional trends in isotope research and field hydrogeological observations was elaborated for Kryniczanka watershed (Magura Nappe-Fig. 1). The most intensive groundwater flow takes place in the shallow zone represented by 1st, 2nd, 3rd layer of the model (up to 100 m below surface). Below thi...

Pumping tests were performed in the Krynica Spa during the years 1998-1999. Special equipment was applied during tests as the probe with continuous downhole pressure registration and barometric pressure reduction. As a consequence the effect of different density of the gaseous-water mixture (CO2 + water) has been eliminated. Hydrodynamic tests have...

The problem of the management of carbon dioxide exploited from Zuber wells in Krynica Spa is presented together with modification of existing CO2 installation. The experiments on sulphur removal from CO2 using molecular sieves and charcoal are thoroughly described. Their results suggest that charcoal impregnated with potassium iodide meets the nece...

General current trends in hydrogeochemistry are shown with particular regard to reactive hydrogeochemical modeling and methodological problems in evaluation of early stages of anthropopression influence on groundwater quality. The main trends result from the progress in analytical methods, the growing possibilities in reactive transport modeling of...

Lignosulfonate lyes, which had been deposited by a paper factory for about 50 years into Quaternary sediments and accumulated in a quasistagnant depression, became mobile when a depression cone caused by mine activity in a deeper aquifer reached the erosion window close to the disposal site. Their transport parameters in the karstic-fractured-porou...

The spoil discharged from coal mines in the Upper Silesian coal basin contains considerable amounts of readily soluble chloride salts which leach out causing deterioration of the quality of surface and underground waters in the vicinity of the spoil tips. The salinity of these Carboniferous rocks has been shown to be a result of the saturation of p...

In order to estimate variability in chlorine salinity of Carboniferous rocks in area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, the Cracow Sandstone Series and Upper Silesian Claystone Series have been sampled. The studies on pore solutions extracted from Carboniferous rocks (coal and adjoining rocks) and groundwaters from the proximity of the sampled seams...