Osobowice irrigation fields – history and present time

• Main Author: Wojciech Marek Łyczko
• Format: Article
• Language: Polish
• Published: Polish Society of Ecological Engineering (PTIE) 2018-08-01
• Series: Inżynieria Ekologiczna
• Subjects: agriculture waste water use; plant-soil waste water treatment plant
• Online Access: http://www.journalssystem.com/ie/POLA-IRYGACYJNE-OSOBOWICE-HISTORIA-I-TERAZNIEJSZOSC,93488,0,2.html

Osobowice irrigation fields served as a natural sewage treatment plant of the Wroclaw urban agglomeration for over 100 years. The object is located on the Wroclaw Plain, in the north part of Wroclaw – between two river beds: Odra and Widawa. The beginning of the exploitation of the fields dates back to the year 1880. The irrigated area, at that time, was about 560 ha. In next years, the fields were systematically expanded almost to 1300 ha. After the Janowek Sewage Treatment Plant start-up (and its modernization in 2012) the share of irrigated fields in the sewage treatment process has been systematically decreased, both in terms of the amount of sewage and the flooded area. The fields exploitation was finished in 2013. A large part of the area, now constitutes the ecological area, due to the occurrence of a rich fauna and flora in this area. The work presents the history of object, details of the facility's operation and characteristics of water management during its operation, as well as the current state of the fields, mainly in terms of groundwater levels, which – without flooding this area with sewage – have decreased in a significant part of this terrain.