Located in the Baltic Sea Basin, Poland has a mean annual water resources per capita of approximately 1,600m3, almost three times less than the mean value for Europe.
In addition, the available resources are subject to great year-to-year variability. Devastating floods and local water scarcities are frequent.
Water quality management is one of the key problems, creating problems for people’s livelihoods and the environment. Several river basin authorities were established in 1991.