Based on the above criteria, the category of boundary waters includes also the rivers Poprad and Dunajec. These are two important boundary rivers which, as the only ones, carry surface waters from the territory of our country into the Baltic Sea.
River Poprad – the Poprad river basin on our territory has a total area of 1,594 km2. The total length of the river Poprad on our territory is 107 km, including the boundary section being 31.1 km long.
River Dunajec – forms a natural border between the Polish Republic and the Slovak Republic. Its total length on our territory is only 17 km. The total area of the Dunajec river basin on our territory has the area of 356 km2. The erosion activity of Dunajec created in the Pieniny hills a deep break valley called “Prielom Dunajec” which is a natural reservation.
The co-operation with the Polish Republic in these boundary rives covers particularly the issues of treatment of rivers, announcement and forecast services, exploitation of boundary waters, and last but not least, protection thereof against contamination. The co-operation with the Polish Republic is developed under the „Agreement between the Slovak Government and the Polish Government on Water Management in Boundary Waters“ which was signed in Warsaw on May 14, 1997. In order to resolve the tasks arising from this „Agreement“, the parties established a Slovakian-Polish Commission for boundary waters. In the section of protection of boundary waters against contamination works a Slovakian-Polish Group which is headed, on the Slovak side, by a representative of the Slovak Ministry of Environment, Water Protection Department, and on the Polish side, by a representative of the Polish Ministry of Education, Water Supply Department.
The quality of the boundary rivers of Poprad and Dunajec is monitored in the mutually agreed monitoring sites in the boundary sections of these rivers. Control samples of surface waters are taken in participation of both parties. The frequency of taking control samples and analyses is agreed once in a month, i.e. 12 times in one calendar year.
During the years 2002 – 2003, 24 control monitoring profiles were in the whole section of the river Poprad on our territory. Out of that, only two profiles may be considered as boundary, namely:
- 1. Poprad - Circ rkm of monitoring 39.00
- 2. Poprad - Piwniczna rkm of monitoring 0.00
In the 17 kilometer long boundary section of the river Dunajec, only one control profile is monitored on long-term basis: Dunajec - Cerveny Klastor rkm 8.80 According to the legal regulations applicable on the territory of our country, the quality of all surface waters, and thus also in the boundary sections of rivers, is evaluated according to the Slovak Technical Standard 75 7221 „Classification of quality of surface waters“. The results of classification of the quality of water in the boundary profiles in the rivers of Poprad and Dunajec for the last closed period of the years 2002—2003 led to the following conclusions:
Poprad – Circ Boundary Profile According to the results of classification of the quality of waters for the period of 2002 – 2003, the water in the Poprad – Circ boundary profile has a character of strongly contaminated water. The main criterion for this classification is the increased microbiologic contamination and partial nutrients, resulting from repeatedly measured high concentrations of phosphate phosphorus in the given monitoring site.
Poprad – Pivniczna Boundary Profile In the Poprad – Piwniczna boundary profile, based on the results of classification for the period of 2002 – 2003, the resulting quality of water in the river Poprad is the IVth class, which is characterised as strongly contaminated water. The main determining factor for such bad quality classification is the measured increased microbiologic contamination in the given boundary section of the river.
Dunajec – Cerveny Klastor Boundary Profile From among the five-degree classification scale of quality of water in the river Dunajec in the Dunajec – Cerveny Klastor boundary profile, for the period of 2002 – 2003 was found the worst IIIrd class – contaminated water, which is also a determining class of quality in the given profile. This classification was influenced by the results of classification of the basic physical-chemical indicators of quality of water and the microbiologic contamination of the boundary sections of rivers, and partially by a slight alkali reaction of waters, which is related to the natural factors and the human activities in the river basins.
From the long-term aspect, the quality of water in the boundary rivers varies from the IInd to the IVth class of quality. For the last six evaluated floating two-year cycles, the worst Vth class of quality, corresponding to very strongly contaminated water, was marked only on rare occasions. However, save for one classified group of indicators of oxygen regime in the Dunajec – Cerveny Klastor profile for the period of 2000 – 2001, in the group classification, the best Ist class of quality, classifying surface waters as very clean, was not found even once. However, from the period of 2001 – 2002, there is a slight improvement in the group of microbiologic indicators of water quality, with marked shift from the Vth class to the IVth class, and even in the Dunajec – Cerveny Klastor profile, for the last evaluated period in this group of indicators, the IIrd class of quality was classified, corresponding to contaminated water.
