The Department of Water Management and Protection conducts limnological and technological research on:
History of the Department of Water Management and Protection
The department specialises in the following research topics:
History of the Department of Waste Management and Environmental Analyzes
The Pollutant Emission Team, as part of the Air Protection Department, has been operating in the structure of the present Institute since its inception. The activities of the Team generally cover two basic directions:
The Pollutant Emission Team operates within the framework of the system implemented in the IEE PAS Laboratory, compliant with PN-EN ISO / IEC 17025: 2018-02, confirmed by the AB 950 Accreditation Certificate.
History of the Air Protection Department - Pollutant Emission Team
The research and application projects carried out by the Pollutant Imissions Group of the Air Pollution Control Department concern the physicochemical properties of aerosols emitted by industrial processes and the study of primary and secondary aerosols in atmospheric air. The scope of these studies also includes identifying the sources of aerosols and investigating the gas transformation processes of the precursors of solid particles.
Research is carried out within the framework of statutory activities and individual projects funded by the National Science Centre.
Work is currently underway to create a Polish infrastructure for aerosol and trace gas research within the framework of the ACTRIS IMP project (ACTRIS PL national consortium). Together with IGF PAN and IMWM PIB, construction of a research station in Racibórz has begun. The team's equipment is also used in campaign measurements related to the assessment of pollutant background for new investments or the assessment of immission distribution in areas with social conflicts due to air pollution.
History of the Air Protection Department - Pollution Immission Team
The only research institution in Poland to date that deals with research and development of methods to prevent and reduce the long-term effects of so-called diffuse (non-point) emissions into the atmosphere and their deposition on large areas, storage of various types of waste, agriculture, transportation, etc., including historical pollution. The research work of the department includes: Determination of total cumulative deposition of pollutants in the area using natural archives; biogeochemical transformation of wastes over time, binding/release and migration of trace elements in wastes, soils and soils of aeration and saturation zone; uptake by plants, effects of climate change on these processes; phytoremediation. The plant participates in the development of standards at the international level (CEN and ISO) and in scientific cooperation with numerous countries.
History of the Department of the Impact of Diffuse Pollutants on the Environment
The department researches the properties of technogenic magnetic particles (TMP) in the environment and their role in the transfer of chemical contaminants to the soil environment. We are investigating the potential for using TMP as indicators of environmental contamination. We investigate current and historical soil contaminants using the soil magnetometry method (ISO 21226: 2019) as well as classical geochemical methods. We also identify anthropogenic contamination in soils in areas with historical mining and industrial activity and in former landfills. We cooperate with archaeologists in magnetic detection of archaeological sites. We also deal with bioremediation of post-industrial areas and areas damaged by human activities.
History of the Department of Environmental Magnetism and Reclamation
The research laboratory of the Institute of Environmental Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Zabrze works with a system that complies with the standard PN-EN ISO/IEC 17025:2018-02. The task of the laboratory is to perform routine analyzes for the needs of scientific activity of all scientific departments of the Institute, as well as analyzes of commercial samples provided by external customers.
Experienced staff, modern research equipment, certified materials and reference materials guarantee the highest quality of the performed tests. This is confirmed by the results obtained by the laboratory in national and international interlaboratory tests and proficiency tests. For part of the analyzes performed, the laboratory is accredited according to the certificate with the scope of accreditation No. AB 950 issued by the Polish Center for Accreditation.
ISSN 2083-4772
eISSN 2083-4810
Archives of Environmental Protection is the oldest Polish scientific journal of international scope that publishes articles on engineering and environmental protection. The quarterly has been published by the Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences since 1975. The journal has served as a forum for the exchange of views and ideas among scientists. It has become part of scientific life in Poland and abroad. The quarterly publishes the results of research and scientific inquiries by best specialists hereby becoming an important pillar of science. The journal facilitates better understanding of environmental risks to humans and ecosystems and it also shows the methods for their analysis as well as trends in the search of effective solutions to minimize these risks.
Copyright on any open access article in the Archives of Environmental Protection journal published by Polish Academy of Sciences is retained by the author(s). Authors grant Polish Academy of Sciences a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. Authors also grant any user the right to use the article freely if its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified. The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-SA 4.0) formalizes these and other terms and conditions of publishing articles.
The editorial team of Archives of Environmental Protection implements an open access policy by publishing materials in the form of the so-called Gold Open Access and encourages authors to place articles published in the journal in open repositories (after the review or the final version of the publisher), provided that a link to the journal’s website is provided.
For the articles which were previously published, before year 2021, policies that are different from the above. In all such, access to these articles is free from fees or any other access restrictions. Permissions for the use of the texts published in that journal may be sought directly from the Editors, by e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The journal is indexed by Clarivate Analytics services (Biological Abstract, BIOSIS Previews) and has an Impact Factor (June 2023) of 1.5.
CiteScore 2022: 2.9
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2022: 0.351
Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2022: 0.485
The quarterly journal mainly publishes original research papers on topics such as:
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.
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
