Katarzyna Izydorczyk and Wojciech Frątczak (ERCE PAN)

During final Waterdrive meeting a field visit to the Bedlno commune took place on December 3, 2021. Bedlno Commune, one of 10 communes in the Kutno County Waterdrie case area, has been selected for testing Waterdrive approach in the small agricultural catchment scale.

One of the main reasons for choosing the commune was the location of the Stradzewski Channel basin, which lies entirely within the commune and is a system linked to the drainage system. The Stradzewski Channel is 14 km long and its catchment area is 5 331 ha. The second factor was that the Bedlno Water Company (association of farmers) is one of the most effective water company in the Lodzkie Province.

In the first part of the field visit the participants met with the Manager of Water Supervision (Wody Polskie), who presented the operation of two weirs on the Moszczenica and Bzura rivers used in the “River cannel retention” program. Participants learned how damming water on weirs affects adjacent meadow areas; how the irrigation system works, and what is the possibility of fish migration through the structures.

The field visit was followed by a meeting with project stakeholders from the Kutno County. The meeting was attended by the Bedlno Commune Head, representatives of the Bedlno Commune Council and the Bedlno Water Company. In addition, the meeting was attended by representatives of the National Water Holding Wody Polskie from the local level, representatives of water companies from Kutno and Zduny, as well as the Lodzkie Agricultural Advisory Center in Bratoszewice.

During the meeting 3 presentations were given:

1. Wojciech Frątczak, presented joint activities of the Marshal’s Office of the Lodz Voivodship and the European Regional Centre of Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in terms of stimulating local cooperation in increasing water retention;
2. Andrzej Karniszewski presented the goals of the new specialization, water advisor, within the system of public agricultural services in Poland and his own  first-hand experiences of acting as the testing water advisor in the case area;
3. Katarzyna Bańkowska presented a diagnostic tool developed as the part of the Waterdrive project’s activities for agricultural advisors to carry out an analysis of the cost of water in the economic calculation at a farm level.

The presentations were the beginning of a discussion on the possibilities of local cooperation in water management in an agricultural catchment in Poland. At the end of the meeting the participants tasted regional products prepared by the Rural Housewives Association.