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.
