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THE IMPORTANCE OF GROUNDWATER MONITORING IN THE VICINITY OF ROADS ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE WOJNICZ BYPASS (SOUTHERN POLAND)

Marek Sołtysiak

Abstract

Roads and highways provide a linear source of environmental (air, surface water, groundwater) pollution. This influence depends on the road class, the traffic intensity and the accompanying infrastructure. These factors are the basis for determining the groundwater vulnerability in the vicinity of roads. Road investments are intensively developing in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland. 2350 km of new expressways and highways have been built in the period of 2005-2016 in Poland. According to the data taken from the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways in Poland in 2010, more than 12,000 km of national roads cross the area of Main Groundwater Reservoirs (MGR) and almost 3,400 km passed through the area of low insulation level of groundwater. According to the plans from 2010, the length of national roads colliding with these reservoirs was supposed to increase by 4,200 km and next 1270 km was supposed to cross the MGR areas characterized by a low level of insulation. Unfortunately, groundwater monitoring is carried out in the region of a small number of road investments, due to lack of explicit legislation. The functioning of roads is associated with the migration of such pollutants as: organic pollutants, heavy metals or chlorides and suspension which poses a risk of surface water. This paper presents an overview of the several years long of groundwater monitoring results in the vicinity of a relatively recent road investment: the Wojnicz by-pass (southern Poland). It was taken into account: chemical composition of waters, geological and hydrogeological conditions and spatial development. Groundwater monitoring results come from three different stages of the road investment: the stage before starting work, construction and use of the road. An important element of the analyses was the assessment of the groundwater vulnerability which confirms the negative impact of the analyzed investments on groundwater in case of chlorides and petroleum substances. For example, the concentration of chlorides in water sampled from a one piezometer situated along the Wojnicz bypass increased 20-times between the period preceding the investment 2005 and 2017.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018/1.2/s02.088

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