Pavol Purcz

Evaluation of environmental impact assessment effectiveness in Slovakia

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) practice in Slovakia is about 20 years old. EIA was first introduced in Slovakia based on the Environment Law of 1992. The practice in EIA started developing shortly after the Law No. 127/1994 Coll. came into force. The first group of experts was certified as being EIA/strategic environmental assessment (SEA) professionally qualified persons. During 20 years, the numbers of EIA procedures were performed and number of EIA practitioners has considerably increased. Many discussions arise about EIA procedure effectiveness and quality in Slovakia. The task of this study has been to investigate EIA system applications in Slovakia and evaluate its effectiveness. In this paper, the views of professionally qualified persons are examined closely, using a questionnaire survey. Data from the questionnaires are analysed to find information relating to current EIA/SEA and EIA/SEA practice and the future for EIA. The objective of this study was to assess the potential for improving the effectiveness of EIA in Slovakia, and finally the recommendations for improvement are presented. The results of this research suggest that the use of new legislation should be extended in Slovakia in order to improve EIA effectiveness.

Water Absorption Behavior of Hemp Hurds Composites

In this paper, water sorption behavior of 28 days hardened composites based on hemp hurds and inorganic binder was studied. Two kinds of absorption tests on dried cube specimens in deionized water bath at laboratory temperature were performed. Short-term (after one hour water immersion) and long-term (up to 180 days) water absorption tests were carried out to study their durability. Short-term water sorption behavior of original hemp hurds composites depends on mean particle length of hemp and on binder nature. The comparative study of long-term water sorption behavior of composites reinforced with original and chemically modified hemp hurds in three reagents confirmed that surface treatment of filler influences sorption process. Based on evaluation of sorption curves using a model for composites based on natural fibers, diffusion of water molecules in composite reinforced with original and chemically modified hemp hurds is anomalous in terms of the Fickian behavior. The most significant decrease in hydrophility of hemp hurds was found in case of hemp hurds modified by NaOH and it relates to change in the chemical composition of hemp hurds, especially to a decrease in average degree of cellulose polymerization as well as hemicellulose content.

Methodology of flood risk assessment from flash floods based on hazard and vulnerability of the river basin

Flood protection is a society-wide task. The basic rules of prevention in flood protection are stipulated by the regulation of a secondary right of the European Union—Directive of the European Parliament and Council 2007/60/EC on assessment and management of flood risks. The paper is focused on preliminary flood risk assessment of flash floods. The task was to obtain knowledge on the spatial variability of flood risk from flash floods and in doing so supplement a preliminary flood risk assessment already conducted in 2011 for the purpose of proposing suitable flood mitigation measures for reducing the risk found. Flood risk in this study is understood as a combination of flood hazard and vulnerability. The main part of the work is devoted to the proposal of a methodological approach for preliminary flood risk assessment of flash floods. Application of the proposed approach in Bodva river basin, southern Slovakia, is described in the results section.

Determination of the potential economic flood damages in Medzev, Slovakia: Economic flood damages in Medzev, Slovakia

1 Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Košice, Košice, Slovakia 2 Slovak Water Management Enterprise, s.c., Košice, Slovakia 3 Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Košice, Košice, Slovakia 4 Department of Hydraulic Structures, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

Drought Regionalization Based on Low Flow Trends in Selected River Basins in Slovakia

An important function in both engineering hydrology and integrated catchment area management is performed by statistical analysis. This paper presents the trend analysis of low water flows in selected rivers in Eastern Slovakia. There are many statistical methods for data evaluation. The most of useful, presented in this paper, is the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test. This analysis was carried out for statistical data from 63 river stations lying in the eastern part of Slovakia, namely in Hornád, Poprad, Bodva, Bodrog river basins. The data were obtained from the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, Regional Centre Košice. Because the low flow data are not comparable for the individual stations, normally it is only possible to do the statistical analysis for each river station separately. The relative sizes of the low stream flow trends in individual river stations were calculated as directives of the trend lines. Using ArcView GIS was created thematic map from geographical map of Eastern Slovakia and was performed hydrological drought risk regionalization.

Water Distribution System in Building and Its Microbiological Contamination Minimization

Today we are facing the need to ensure water quality, so the basic requirement of today’s civilization is to assess the water quality and perform the necessary treatment, adapt, transport, and heat it. The water pipes as a major part of the entire water distribution system have undergone considerable technical and technological development. Today we know that the various piping materials that have been used to transport water throughout historical development had a great impact on water quality. Drinking water must not cause any health problems to users. Microbiological contamination of drinking water and the health risk caused by pathogens that colonize the technical systems, however, occasionally causes serious problems. These include, for example, some cases of epidemic outbreaks of deaths that have occurred in the past 10 years in various parts of the world (e.g. cholera, typhus). Legionnaires’ disease legionellosis also belongs to such newer diseases. The first case of Legionella infection from water distribution system was recorded in a patient’s kidney transplantation. Since then, Legionella has begun to be tracked in water systems in different types of buildings, including hotels, homes, factories, and ships. This bacterium was found throughout the water system, from the water source to the outflow fittings. The goal of this chapter is to present hot water tank – a mathematical model which simulates temperature profile of hot water tank and works on obtained approximated function. Temperature and water stagnation are one of the factors that caused microbiological contamination of water, and by knowing the temperature profile, we can reduce the possible risks. While respecting the basic parameters of hot water, it is required for a water supplier and operator of a building to ensure the prescribed quality and water temperature at each sampling site and avoid the Legionella growth.

Hydrological Drought Occurrence in Slovakia

The chapter presents the problem of drought and describes its classification and methods of assessing this risk. The aim of this chapter is to identify statistically significant trends in streamflow characteristics of low water content in the Eastern Slovakia, which are used in the evaluation of hydrological drought. In this thesis is presented a new methodology for evaluating hydrological drought based on statistical analysis of observed minimal flows at selected 63 gauging stations in Eastern Slovakia for a 32-year period. Mann-Kendall statistical test identifies the frequency of minimal flow trends: in individual gauging stations, in river basins (Poprad, Hornad, Bodva, Bodrog to throughout Eastern Slovakia), and also in groups of gauging stations with the same physicogeographical parameters. Size of the flow trends is identified by directives of the trend lines. The procedure is also applied in assessing the impact of human activities and the impact of physicogeographical factors for the emergence of hydrological drought. Obtained results from the statistically significant trends in the flows are established prediction of hydrological drought risk in each month of the hydrological year in Eastern Slovakia.

Flood Risk Assessment from Flash Floods in Bodva River Basin, Slovakia

The main objective of flood management as well as the entire management cycle is regulated by Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks. The paper deals with an application of preliminary flood risk assessment, particularly flood risk assessment from flash floods in the Bodva river basin, which is situated in the south of the Slovak Republic. The aim of the preliminary assessment of flood risk from flash floods is determining the hazard and the vulnerability of assessed area. The result of identification of a hazard is the determination of critical points in the basin and their contributing surfaces on the basis of the geometric and physiogeographic characteristics of the contributing surfaces. Vulnerability in the study area is determined on the basis of the type and density of the built-up area. The resulting flood risk is stated as a moderate risk. The scope and extremity of flood episodes point to the need to build a comprehensive system of flood protection measures in potential flood areas.

Determination of pollutant concentrations in the Krasny Brod River profile based on the Buckingham theorem

AbstractThe paper deals with an application of the model which determines concentrations of pollutants in a water stream and which is developed based on dimensional analysis. The most important part is the selection of appropriate variables for model development. The use of dimensional analysis, the Buckingham theorem, for water quality modeling is a new approach. This method could be used for prediction of any pollutant in a water stream. The obtained results demonstrate that dimensional analysis and use of the π theorem is an appropriate approach to water quality modeling. The model presented in the article has universal validity for pollutants in streams that are characterized by at least approximate geometric characteristics. But for each pollutant (and particular stream of course), the parameters of linear function, i.e. regression coefficients, have to be determined separately. The differences between the concentrations calculated from the developed model and actually measured concentrations are als...

Drought Assessment Based On The Number Of Days Without Precipitation

When extreme and non-extreme physical events, such as drought, can affect elements of human systems in an adverse manner, it assumes the characteristic of a hazard. Droughts are the most complex but least understood of all natural hazards. It is broadly defined as a “severe water shortage”. The objective of this paper was to investigate the number of days without precipitation during 30 years in chosen climatic stations in the eastern Slovakia. The results of the research proved that the occurrence of a drought in Slovakia is rare although periods longer than 30 days without precipitation were detected. This research may be helpful as one of the documents for water management practice, for example, for proposals of water harvesting in the country, the designing of other water structures or agricultural practices in the study area. The study of drought assessment is performed with the main goal of reducing negative impacts of droughts.