BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

The main tasks are:
-accumulating funds from fees for "specific water use" in river
basin or its part and expanding these funds in the same basin to
satisfy definite needs of water economy;
- coordination of profiting from river basin's resources, set
periodically by Minister of Environmental Protection, Natural
Resources and Forestry. These conditions will be the base for
administrative decision (water-legal permissions).
The project of the new water Law act says about Regional Water
Councils. These Councils will be composed equally by three
groups of people which represent: the government administration,
local self-government entities and users of water.
The Water Councils will be permitted to state:
- programmes of developing the water economy of each of seven
river basins;
- the regional fees for "specific water use" higher than the
rate states by the Government for the whole country. They will
be the base for regional system of financing the water economy;
- the main directions of spending funds accumulated by the
Regional Water Development Authority.
Undertakings aimed at protecting waters against pollution are
being harmonized with the national and regional programmes.
Remodeling of industry and modernization of technological
processes with respect to the water consumption and contaminant
loadings are the basis of these programmes.
The rate of implementation of the water economy schemes
including water protection and duration of particular investment
circles are determined by Poland's economic situation.
Expenditures for water protection reached level of 3,778
trillion zlotys in 1991 what was a 0.6% of GNP.
Recent years have brought a substantial revival of Poland's
contacts with external parties. This is relevant in particular
to the wider opening towards the initiatives of European
countries. According to calculations carried out for the year
1991, external aid did not exceed 6% of the total funds
absorbed by the environmental sector during this year.
259