Aleš Smrekar

Dumping sites in the Ljubljansko polje water protection area, the primary source of Ljubljana’s drinking water

Ljubljansko polje is a gravel plain lying along the Sava River north of Ljubljana. Although built-up areas are steadily expanding, the water protection area has helped preserve the character of relatively intensely cultivated agricultural land at least in its central part. However, illegal dumping sites pose a threat to the groundwater in the gravel aquifer. In the narrowest and narrow water protection areas of Ljubljansko polje, we have found, registered, and studied 1,445 illegal dumping sites with a total surface area amounting to 120,816 m2 and a total volume of 209,422 m3. A good seventh (13.5%) of the total waste is hazardous. In the area surveyed, we also registered 86 gravel pits, 47 information and warning signs, and 57 road barriers on access roads. In time, it will be necessary to rehabilitate all the illegal dumping sites; however, due to the large quantity of waste it is unrealistic to expect this to happen in one go, and we have therefore established a priority schedule for the rehabilitation.

From environmental awareness in word to environmental awareness in deed: The case of Ljubljana

Modern lifestyles demand the exploitation of natural resources, which results in a significantly deteriorated living environment. The goal of this study was to determine and evaluate people’s relationship to the environment and their willingness to take action themselves to protect it. The majority of people (or more than half, in this case) support environmental protection in principle, especially in word only, because this is also socially desirable. However, when they must address limitations that would interfere with their lives by limiting activities or increasing costs, their enthusiasm abates quickly. Twenty percent of people can be defined as being in favor of environmental protection and regarding it as a value. Education level plays a very important role in people’s behavior towards environmental issues. This study was carried out in Ljubljana by surveying 408 people.

From drawing cognitive maps to knowing the protection zones for drinking water resources

Using a sample of 900 persons from the urban area of Ljubljansko polje and the suburban area of Iski vrsaj, we tried to determine how much local residents knew about the protection zones for drinking water resources. We employed a survey questionnaire and the drawing of cognitive maps. A little fewer than half of the people are aware they live in water protection zones. The proportions of those who are aware of the protection zones in Ljubljansko polje (two fifths) and in Iski vrsaj (two thirds) differ considerably. Only 280 persons, just under one third of those surveyed, drew the boundaries of the protection zones on the attached map. In Ljubljansko polje, the greatest concentration of drawn protection zones was a little north of the oldest and largest pumping station at Klece. The second largest condensation occurred in Iski vrsaj in the immediate vicinity of the Brest pumping station.

Dung Installations as Dangerous Point Sources Burdening the Groundwater of Ljubljansko Polje

On Ljubljansko polje, we registered 155 farmers with barns, mostly with the separate collec-tion of dung with litter and dung-water. We surveyed 307 dung installations, of which 151 were dunghills and 156 dung-pits. The traditional method of storing cattle manure in dunghills on top of dung-pits dom-inates. Some 231 of the dung installations are properly arranged, and almost two thirds have a suitable capacity.

Reduced Permeation of Precipitation Water into Groundwater on Ljubljansko polje

The permeation of water into groundwater in an urban environment is considerably differ-ent than that in an untransformed landscape. Built-up and open surfaces have very different proportions of impermeable surfaces. Due to urban land use on Ljubljansko polje, the loss of permeating precipitation water is more than 0.5m3/s or 190 mm of precipitation.

Bojan Erhartič's contribution to geography

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Bojan Erhartic had a strong impact on Slovenian geography because he placed it on the map of countries where geographers deal with geomorphological heritage. He began his research path into the world of natural heritage with the study of geography. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he turned his attention to studying geodiversity, and this led him to issues concerning the evaluation of geomorphological heritage, especially in mountainous areas. Erhartic was among the first in Slovenian geography to deal with the aesthetic evaluation of geomorphological heritage. His interest in the “beauty of nature” stemmed from many years of planned work in (geographical) photography. The Anton Melik Geographical Institute of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts holds approximately 218,000 of his “geographical” photos, which he took during his many travels in more than forty countries on five continents.

Vrednotenje nekdanje in sedanje proizvodnje nevarnih odpadkov v Ljubljani z vidika obremenjevanja podtalnice // Evaluating former and current production of hazardous waste in Ljubljana from the perspective of threats to groundwater

Na osrednjem obmocju Ljubljane, ki je danes skoraj v celoti vodovarstveno obmocje pitnih virov, je v osemdesetih letih prejsnjega stoletja delovalo vsaj 170 obratov, ki so proizvajali ali skladiscili okolju nevarne snovi. To so bili predvsem obrati strojne in kovinske dejavnosti (predelava kovin, galvane, lakirnice, izdelava strojev, servisi strojne opreme in vozil), živilske (pivovarne, mlekarne), kemicne (proizvodnja zdravil, barv, obrati za kemicno ciscenje, proizvodnja in skladiscenje kemikalij) ter ostalih dejavnosti (tekstilna industrija, skladiscenje naftnih derivatov). V raziskavi smo podrobneje raziskali danasnjo rabo prostora na znanih obmocjih nevarnih dejavnosti iz osemdesetih let prejsnjega stoletja. Dolocili smo 309 poslovnih enot, katerih sedež je prav na obmocju (zemljiskih parcelah) nekdanjih obratov in so glede na primarno dejavnost potencialni onesnaževalci podtalnice kot vira pitne vode. Ugotavljamo, da so na 76 % obmocij (130 od 170) se vedno prisotne dejavnosti, ki proizvajajo, skladiscijo ali prodajajo nevarne snovi. Prevladujejo vecja obmocja, medtem ko so se manjsa pogosteje preobrazila. Njihovo stopnjo okoljskega tveganja smo dolocili predvsem z vidika podtalnice Ljubljanskega polja, ki je glavni vir pitne vode v prestolnici. Z nadaljnjimi terenskimi analizami tal bo treba preveriti ali so obmocja dejansko onesnažena in jih lahko oznacimo kot kontaminirana obmocja.In the central part of Ljubljana, which today is almost entirely a water-protection area for drinking water, there were at least 170 facilities operating in the 1980s that produced or stored environmentally hazardous substances. These were primarily facilities in the mechanical and metal industries (metal processing, galvanizing, paint shops, machine production, servicing machinery and vehicles), the food industry (brewing, dairy), the chemical industry (producing medicines, paints, dry cleaning, producing and storing chemicals), and other industries (textiles, storing petroleum derivatives). The study investigates in detail today’s use of space at known locations of hazardous industries from the 1980s. We defined 309 business units headquartered at sites (land lots) of former companies (170) whose primary activity created the potential for polluting groundwater as a drinking water source. We determined that at 76% of the sites (130 of 170) activities are still present that produce, store, or sell hazardous substances. These are primarily large sites, whereas small sites have often been transformed. Their level of environmental risk was primarily defined with regard to the groundwater of the Ljubljana Basin, which is the capital’s main source of drinking water. It will be necessary to use further field analysis to check whether the sites are actually polluted and whether they can be defined as contaminated sites.

Assessing the suitability of planned garden-plot areas in Ljubljana

suitable infrastructure. We evaluated the appropriateness of the planned locations in the draft City Munici pality of Ljubljana Zoning Implementation Plan on the basis of the fulfillment of key exclusion and attraction criteria that were established based on survey answers included in support of the decision-making with the help of GIS tools. Decision-making by consensus, inclusion of public stakeholders, and establishing dialog between the city government and garden-plot users will need to be ensured in carrying out this plan.