- 1Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
- 2Department of Microbiology and Biomonitoring, Faculty of Agriculture and Economics, University of Agriculture, Kraków, Poland
The Podhale region is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Poland. The most developed tourism services and infrastructure are based in Białka Tatrzańska. It’s home to a ski resort Kotelnica, which is known to use technical snow on their slopes. This village also has no proper water-sewage management, which may lead to the deterioration of surface water quality. The study aims to demonstrate the human impact on the chemical composition and bacteriological contamination of the waters of the Czerwonka stream (in the longitudinal profile including waters from slopes), whose catchment area contains aforementioned resort.
Fieldwork involved measuring basic physicochemical parameters and collecting water samples for chemical composition and microbiological analyses. Ion chromatography instrument DIONEX ICS-2000 was used to identify 14 main ions and biogenic compounds (Ca, Mg, Na, K, NH4, Li, HCO3, SO4, Cl, NO3, NO2, PO4, F, Br). We measured TOC (total organic carbon), TIC (total inorganic carbon), TC (total carbon) and TNb (total bound nitrogen) with Elementar Vario TOC cube. Bacterial fecal indicators were determined using culture-based method on selective microbiological media to identify fecal pollution.
Along the 6 km stream, sharp increase in ion concentrations, particularly Na, K, SO4, Cl, NO3, NO2, PO4 was observed (20-21/10/2023). Concentration of Na ions is 32 times higher, while Cl concentration increased 79 times. TOC concentration is 16 times higher. Such inflation is due to anthropogenically impacted tributaries from the Białka Tatrzańska village, as well as groundwaters, showing the dual genesis of Czerwonka stream’s pollution. In particular, tributary coming from quite popular thermal baths is rich in sulphates and chlorides, with steady nitrate and biogenic compounds levels. The presence of numerous fecal bacteria in water samples indicates anthropogenic contamination of the stream waters.
How to cite: Kaflińska, O., Suwalska, W., Bojarczuk, A., Jelonkiewicz, Ł., Lenart-Boroń, A., Stankiewicz, K., Zalewska, J., and Żelazny, M.: The human impact on the longitudinal hydrochemical profile of the Czerwonka Stream in Białka Tatrzańska (Southern Poland, Podhale region), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-3322, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-3322, 2025.
