Current measurements of temperature and oxygen in the waters of several rivers in the Podlaskie Voivodeship – this is offered by the website woda.uwb.edu.pl which was launched as part of the project "Water Academy and creation of the "AQUA" Educational Laboratory. It is run by the Department of Water Ecology at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Białystok which is the first in the region to provide "water data" online.
Temperature and oxygen measurements are carried out in four locations: the Nurzec River (Boćki), the Supraśl River (Supraśl), the Biała River (Zawady) and the Biebrza River (Dolistowo Stare). In these selected places, special oxygen sensors were added to the existing IMWM infrastructure.
Dissolved oxygen reserves in river waters vary between rivers but also change throughout the day. In Podlasie rivers, water oxygen saturation is usually in the range of 60-90%. When the values drop below 50%, hypoxia occurs and this phenomenon is commonly called asphyxia which impedes the functioning of hydrobionts and also contributes to the mass deaths of fish and invertebrates," the authors of the project remind us on the website: woda.uwb.edu.pl
- This is the first website of this type publicly providing online measurement data of river water quality from the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Only the state system installed after the flood on the Odra River has a similar measurement range. Access to current data is one of the ways to disseminate knowledge about water, which is the main goal of our project. A more complete knowledge and understanding of the processes and phenomena taking place there is the key to changing society's attitudes towards water. There is less and less of it, its availability is constantly decreasing and more and more actions need to be taken to protect it - says prof. Andrzej Górniak, project manager and Head of the Department of Water Ecology at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Białystok. He adds that in addition to educational purposes, the project will enable hydrobiologists from Białystok to collect data necessary for the analysis of river metabolism, the indicators of which are increasingly used in modern methods of assessing the ecological status of surface waters.
- Crisis Management Centers will have an additional and up-to-date source of knowledge about events unfavorable to the environment and humans. Anglers in the region will also be satisfied with the presented data as the water oxygenation status includes, among others: indicates potential fishing results. In summer, bathing enthusiasts can use the data as a guide when choosing the best natural swimming areas - adds prof. Andrzej Górniak.
A link to current measurement of selected parameters is one of the effects of the project, financed by the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Białystok as part of the Regional Support Program for Environmental Education.
Thanks to the Water Academy and the creation of the "AQUA" Educational Laboratory, workshops for various age groups are also conducted and a monograph "Waters of the Podlaskie Voivodeship" is being created.
