Established in 1987 as the first and only research institution in Poland that is a national leader in researching, monitoring, defining and developing methods to prevent and reduce the long-term impact of so-called pollutants on the terrestrial and aquatic environment. diffuse (non-point), industrial emissions to the atmosphere, their long-range transport, including transboundary and large-scale dumping; storage of various types of waste; agriculture; means of transport, etc., including historical pollution. The Division's research includes: (a) the accurate determination of the total cumulative deposition of diffuse pollutants using natural archives; (b) the elucidation of the processes of migration of pollutants in soil, their uptake by plants, the impact of climate change on these processes; selection of plants - hyperaccumulators of pollutants for their safe, non-invasive removal from the soil through phytoremediation; (c) research on plants - exclusion of pollutants that are not assimilated to ensure food safety; (d) biogeochemical transformations of wastes over time and migration of contaminants in waste pore waters, soils and soils of the aeration and saturation zone to determine and prevent their long-term effects on the soil-soil-water environment, etc. The facility is also involved in the development of standards at the international level (CEN and ISO) and collaborates scientifically with many countries, currently with Norway, China and Lithuania.
The total number of scientific research works and research and implementation works carried out under the supervision of the staff of the department is 121. The research tasks are carried out by the Department within the framework of interdisciplinary research projects managed and coordinated by Department staff, both domestically (in consortia with IGHI-AGH and other research institutions) and internationally (with partners from research institutes in Germany, Israel, Greece, India, Norway, China), within the framework of national and foreign grants (Israel and Germany, Norway), cooperation agreements between the Academies of Sciences (Israel, Norway, India) and internationally (Germany and Greece), as well as work carried out on direct commission from industry and administration.
The Department of Water Management and Protection, which exists in its present state, was created as a result of the evolution of Laboratory III - Water, which was part of, was a research unit of the former, established in 1961, Scientific Research Department of the Upper Silesian Industrial District (GOP) of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), and then the Department of Protection Environment of Industrial Regions of the PAS, in Zabrze. The first head of this organizational unit was Professor PhD Jan Paluch.
In those years, as part of the activities of Laboratory III, pioneering research was carried out on the possibility of using activated sludge for municipal wastewater treatment, and the quality of flowing surface waters and anthropogenic reservoirs in Upper Silesia were tested, which was part of the project consisting in the creation of the so-called GOP Forest Protection Belt. Research was conducted on the transformation of volatile fatty acids in the wastewater treatment process, and on the decomposition of DDT under the influence of ultraviolet light. Research was conducted on the removal of phenols from wastewater in a high-temperature process.
In the years 1975-1985, the head of the Department of Water Protection, created from Laboratory III, was PhD Eng. Zbigniew Lewandowski. At that time, the focus was on the possibility of nitrogen removal from wastewater by nitrification and denitrification. Research was also conducted on the inhibition of microbiological processes by heavy metals, salinity and substrate concentration.
From 1985 to the present day, the head of the Department of Water Management and Protection (the current name of the department) in the Institute of Environmental Engineering (IEE) of the PAS is D.Sc. Eng. Maciej Kostecki, Associate Professor in the IEE PAS. During this period, the focus was on the problem of eutrophication of anthropogenic limnic ecosystems in terms of reclamation. Research was carried out on the removal of nitrogen from wastewater by the precipitation method and on the inhibition of activated sludge with chromium ions. As a result of many years of research, the rehabilitation of Pławniowickie Lake was designed and implemented by removing the waters of the hypolimnion (Olszewski Pipe).
In the years 2010-2012 implemented project "Integrated system supporting management and protection of a dam reservoir", co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund (POIG 01.01.02-24-078/09). The project was carried out in a consortium with the University of Silesia in Katowice, the Cracow University of Technology and the Institute of Ecology of Industrial Areas in Katowice.
Since 2016, research has been carried out on ecological risk analysis based on the total content and chemical forms of metals and metalloids in bottom sediments of water reservoirs, and in the sewage sludge. Research is also conducted on the optimization of the sequential extraction process of these elements from various environmental samples. Initial research was also undertaken on the presence of microplastics in the aquatic environment, in terms of contamination of the aquatic environment with these substances and their decomposition products, in particular in terms of developing analytical methods for the determination of selected indicator substances for the detection of plastics in the aquatic environment.
In the years 2007-2022, the team of the Department of Water Management and Protection acquired 4 research projects financed by the National Science Center and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Moreover, the team was also a co-contractor of 1 project co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund.
The plant has been operating under the present name since 2007. Its progenitor was the Laboratory of Research on the Impact of Industrialization on the Environment (1961-1978). In 1978, as a result of the reorganization of the Institute, the Laboratory was transformed into the Department of Research on the Impact of Pollutants on Plants, functioning until 1990. The name of the Department was changed several times: in 1991 - to the Department of Environmental Contamination, and in 2002 - to the Department of Earth Surface Protection.
Currently, the plant has 8 people. In recent years, 2 people have obtained the title of professor, 2 - the degree of habilitated doctor and 2 - the degree of doctor.
In the 60-year history of the Institute, the Department was managed by:prof. dr hab. S. Godzik, dr St. Karweta i prof. dr hab. inż. Cz. Rosik–Dulewska.
The topic of air pollution was one of the main research directions of the scientific research department of GOP PAS, which was founded in 1961. During this period, the plant's staff published fundamental work in the field of air pollution control:
Pollution of the atmosphere" by J. Judy and K. Budziński, 1961,
From 15 May 1965, research on air pollution was carried out in the following laboratories:
In 1970, the following laboratories were established in the Department of Environmental Protection of the Industrial Regions:
The specialisation of the IEE PAS in the field of air pollution control was strengthened by the implementation of PW 10.2, whose coordinator on 26 January 1976 was Stefan Jarzębski Full Professor.
Within Theme Group 01: Protecting Atmospheric Air from Pollution, 20 themes were started, including 1 on the causes and mechanics of the progression of electroerosion in energy electrostatic precipitators, which was included in the government programme FP 7.
The research topics during this period included the following issues:
Under PW 10.2, the air pollution control unit staff conducted the following research topics:
- Kazimierz Czak M.Sc. : Development of a legal and economic system, a comprehensive law on the protection of atmospheric air in urban and industrial agglomerations based on the experience of Katowicki Voivodeship.
- Stefan Jarzębski Full Professor: Development of short- and long-term methods for forecasting and assessing air quality for warning and planning purposes.
- Mieczysław Sądelski PhD, Assistant Professor : Determination of global organisational solutions in industrial regions based on optimisation methods using climatological models and experimental assessment of air quality.
- Lechosław Jarzębski PhD, Assistant Professor: Investigation of physicochemical transformations of highly dispersed dust pollutants in the atmospheric air of Katowice Voivodeship.
- Ewa Białas PhD, Assistant Professor: Development of technological guidelines for limiting pollutant emissions from certain iron and steel metallurgy processes.
- Jan Kapała PhD, Assistant Professor: Research on the reduction of pollutant emissions from iron foundry processes,
- Krzysztof Wilkosz MSc.: Implementation of the flue gas desulphurisation method in the Siersza power plant, the zinc smelter in the Silesian small town, KGHM Bolesław.
The topic of air pollution was one of the main research directions of the scientific research department of GOP PAS, which was founded in 1961. During this period, the plant's staff published fundamental work in the field of air pollution control:
Pollution of the atmosphere" by J. Judy and K. Budziński, 1961,
From 15 May 1965, research on air pollution was carried out in the following laboratories:
In 1970, the following laboratories were established in the Department of Environmental Protection of the Industrial Regions:
The specialisation of the IEE PAS in the field of air pollution control was strengthened by the implementation of PW 10.2, whose coordinator on 26 January 1976 was Stefan Jarzębski Full Professor.
Within Theme Group 01: Protecting Atmospheric Air from Pollution, 20 themes were started, including 1 on the causes and mechanics of the progression of electroerosion in energy electrostatic precipitators, which was included in the government programme FP 7.
The research topics during this period included the following issues:
Under PW 10.2, the air pollution control unit staff conducted the following research topics:
- Kazimierz Czak M.Sc. : Development of a legal and economic system, a comprehensive law on the protection of atmospheric air in urban and industrial agglomerations based on the experience of Katowicki Voivodeship.
- Stefan Jarzębski Full Professor: Development of short- and long-term methods for forecasting and assessing air quality for warning and planning purposes.
- Mieczysław Sądelski PhD, Assistant Professor : Determination of global organisational solutions in industrial regions based on optimisation methods using climatological models and experimental assessment of air quality.
- Lechosław Jarzębski PhD, Assistant Professor: Investigation of physicochemical transformations of highly dispersed dust pollutants in the atmospheric air of Katowice Voivodeship.
- Ewa Białas PhD, Assistant Professor: Development of technological guidelines for limiting pollutant emissions from certain iron and steel metallurgy processes.
- Jan Kapała PhD, Assistant Professor: Research on the reduction of pollutant emissions from iron foundry processes,
- Krzysztof Wilkosz MSc.: Implementation of the flue gas desulphurisation method in the Siersza power plant, the zinc smelter in the Silesian small town, KGHM Bolesław.
From the very beginning, the issue of post-industrial land reclamation was addressed in one of the 9 laboratories established in 1961 in the Department of Scientific Research of the Upper Silesian Industrial Region of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the forerunner of today's IEE PAS. In March 1965, as part of the restructuring of the Scientific Research Department of the USIR, the Laboratory for Post-Industrial Areas and Brownfield Development was established. In the course of the next restructuring, which was carried out in 1970, the Laboratory for Postindustrial Areas Development was established under the leadership of the then Dr. Eng. Zygmunt Strzyszcz. With the transformation of the scientific research department of the USIR into the Institute of Environmental Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1975, the former Laboratory for the Development of Post-industrial Areas was transformed into the Department for the Rehabilitation of Post-industrial Areas, headed by Full Professor Zygmunt Strzyszcz until 2013. In the 1970s and 1980s, the department participated in the implementation of the major task "Bio-geochemical and physical transformations of pollutants and industrial wastes and their interaction with the environment" and carried out practical reclamation of sand pits in the "Szczakowa" and "Kotlarnia" sand pits and the central coal waste pits "Smolnica", "Przezchlebie" and "Brzezinka". Groundbreaking research on the influence of industrial and urban dust deposition on the magnetic properties of soil was started by Prof. Strzyszcz in 1988. In 1993-1996, intensive studies on the magnetic susceptibility of forest soils were carried out on the territory of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Katowice. They led to the creation of the first maps of topsoil magnetic susceptibility at the regional level. At the same time, practical recultivation work is being carried out at the fly ash landfill of the "Siersza" power plant and the sand pit of the "Szczakowa" sand mine, as well as at the landfills for fizzy drink ash waste of the "Fizzy drink Mątwy" S.A. Chemical Works in Inowrocław. International cooperation in the field of magnetic susceptibility research in 1998 and 1999 led to the formation of the MAGPROX consortium, which carried out the major international project "Screening and monitoring of anthropogenic pollution over Central Europe by using Magnetic Proxies (1999) within the EU 5th Framework Programme. -2003) ". As part of this project, professional equipment for magnetic field and laboratory measurements was acquired, a new instrument for testing magnetic susceptibility "in situ" in a vertical profile was constructed (Magnetometer SM400 - Patent No. 101 21 137), and a large-scale map of magnetic susceptibility of soils in Central Europe was published. In 2002, a map of magnetic susceptibility of soils of Poland was published, and in 2003, a map of magnetic susceptibility of soils of Saxony (commissioned by the Saxon State Office for Environment and Geology) was prepared (last published in 2017). The next major international projects were carried out under the 6 FP EU in 2004 - 2005 SOWA (Integrated Soil and Wter Protection - Risk from Diffuse Pollution) and 2005-2007 SAFEMANMIN (Safe Management of Mining Waste and Waste Facilities). Since 2013, the head of the department is Full Professor Tadeusz Magiera. In 2014, the operation was transformed into the Department of Environmental Magnetism and Land Reclamation. In 2013-2014, the department was the lead participant in another international project IMPACT (Development of integrated geophysical/geochemical methods for assessment and control of soil and groundwater pollution in problematic areas), funded under the Norwegian Funding Mechanism 2009-2014. The final outcome of this project was the development of measurement guidelines for the use of magnetic methods in soil pollution investigations, which were published in 2019 by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) committee as the international standard ISO 21226: 2019 - "Guideline for the screening of soil polluted with toxic elements using soil magnetometry".
In 2004, the director of the Institute, Prof. Dr hab. Czesława Rosik-Dulewska, set up a team whose task was to establish a laboratory where accredited tests would be carried out for the needs of entrepreneurs. On 18 January 2007, by Order of the Institute Director No. 2/2007 on the appointment of an accreditation team to implement the standard PN-EN ISO /IEC 17025:2005 at the Institute and to define the scope of its tasks and competences, the IPIŚ PAN Research Laboratory was formally established. It consisted of three laboratories: P1 Pollutant Emission Laboratory, P2 Trace Analysis Laboratory, P3 Environmental Analysis Laboratory. The first head of the laboratory was Prof. Dr. hab. Raymond Michalski. In 2007, the laboratory submitted an application to the Polish Centre for Accreditation to confirm its competence to perform the tests. On October 10, 2008, the laboratory was accredited by the Polish Center for Accreditation No. AB 950. Since September 1, 2008, the head of the laboratory is Dr. Eng. Jerzy Szdzuj. In the following years, the laboratory gradually expanded the scope of its research activities. It was equipped with modern research equipment, such as ICP MS spectrometer, EDXRF spectrometer, ion and gas chromatographs.
In 2016, the structure of the laboratory was changed and laboratories P2 and P3 were merged into one laboratory P2 for environmental samples.
41-819 Zabrze, ul. M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 34
tel.: +48 32 271 64 81
tel.: +48 32 271 70 40
e-mail: ipis@ipispan.edu.pl
NIP: PL6480006720
