The consequences of applying a new Polish Water Law Act for protection against urban flooding

Abstract

Previous legal regulations did not create conditions for a comprehensive solution to the problems of the urban melioration complex. For over 20 years, urban flooding caused by atmospheric precipitation has been systematically recurring in Poland. The article was elaborated on the experience resulting from the 2001 and 2016 floods in Gdansk (Poland). The newly adopted Water Law Act creates a foundation for a systemic solution to previously neglected issues. A new supervisory authority has been introduced as ‘Polish Water’ (in the Polish nomenclature: Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne “Wody Polskie”). The Act takes into account the problems of flood risk management and counteracting the effects of drought.