HYDROLOGICAL HAZARDS ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT IN SLOVAKIA
Martina ZELEŇÁKOVÁ, Maria Manuela PORTELA, P. PURCZ, P. BLIŠŤAN, Helena HLAVATA
ABSTRACT. – Hydrological hazards assessment and management in Slovakia. One of the purpose of Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) is to contribute to mitigating the effects of floods and droughts – hydrological hazards occurring nowdays more often in river basins. Effective water management, as required by the WFD, helps Member States prepare for extreme weather events which, due to climate change, are becoming more frequent and cause tremendous damages. The study of climatological data is performed with goal to reduce impacts of droughts and floods and thus to ensure sustainable and proper water resources management. Based on the precipitation time series obtained from Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute at a number of climatic stations over a considerable span of time a comprehensive analysis for the entire Slovakia is being carried out. Some of methods applied as well as some of the results achieved are briefly mentioned in this paper, namely (i) trend analysis applied to precipitation time series, (ii) the temporal and spatial evolution of climatological hazards in the area, and (iii) proposal of hazard mitigation measures. It is found increasing trends in precipitation time series in the most of stations in Slovakia, although it is also proved that the droughts are recurrent in Slovakia. The paper identifies climatological extremity in the country that significantly influences water resources management. It presents actual measures for proper water management in river basins aimed to mitigation of hydrological risks.
Keywords: causative factors, floods, geographical information system, multicriteria analysis.