2949775567

GEOGRAPHIAPOLONICA 68, 1997

CHANGES IN THE CHEMISM OF THE WATERS OF THE ŁABUNKA RIVER CATCHMENT UNDER THE INFLUENCE

OF MUNICIPAL AND INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER

Andrzej Świeca

Department of Physical Geography & Paleogeography, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland

ABSTRACT: In the years 1989-1992, river water samples for physicochemical analyses were taken at 9 points of the Łabuńka river catchment up-stream of the gauging station of the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMWM) in Krzak. These show differentiation in hydrochemical features controlled by the lithology of the bedrock. Particular consideration was given to changes caused by municipal wastewater from Zamość. An attempt was madę to determine the content of solutes coming from sewage.

KEY WORDS: water chemism, hydrochemical background, municipal and industrial wastewater, Chemical denudation, solute yield, anthropopressure, Zamość Basin, Eastern Poland.

INTRODUCTION

The Łabuńka river catchment is situated in the upper part of the Wieprz river basin. According to the State project for spatial development till 1995, this part of the Wieprz river basin is among areas reąuiring special protection of water ąuality (Kozłowski 1991). From the latest data of the Provincial Inspectorates of Environment Protection in Lublin, Zamość and Chełm, it appears that the Łabuńka river catchment, besides that of the Bystrzyca, is distinguished by the highest discharge of municipal and industrial wastewater in the Wieprz basin. This is discharged into surface waters, which evidently changes their chemism. For quantitative evaluation of the role of wastewater, studies were undertaken to differentiate the physicochemical features of river waters with regard to geological structure.

Studies of the chemism of surface waters were undertaken in the Łabuńka river catchment up-stream of the gauging station of the IMWM at Krzak in the years 1989-1992. Four measurement points were located on the Łabuńka river and another 5 on its tributaries — the Czarny Potok and