The most worldwide method of liquidating underground hard coal mines is by spontaneous flooding as the result of the discontinuation of the rock mass drainage. Due to the hydrological reconstruction of the previously disturbed water system by mining operations, the movements of the rock mass with the opposite direction than subsidence appear. These movements are called rock mass uplift. This paper aims to present possible hazards related to land surface objects and the environment, which can appear during the flooding of the underground mine. The issue of proper forecasting of this phenomenon has so far been marginal in world literature. To date, only a few analytical methods have been used to predict the possible effects of surface deformation. Nowadays, the most common analytical method of forecasting surface deformation caused by the liquidation of underground workings by flooding is Sroka’s method. In this paper, the authors have presented analyses of flooding scenarios developed for a Polish mine and their impact on the land surface as well as the environment. The scenarios presented in the manuscript were selected for analysis as the most probable concerning the mine and the future plans of the mining enterprise. The process of flooding coal mines results in several risks for surface objects and underground infrastructure. This is why the uplift caused by the flooding of the mine should be predicted. The resulting uplifting movements can also, apart continuous deformation lead to the creation of much more dangerous phenomena involving discontinuous deformations.

Formation of cities was always dependent on water. Location over the water areas gave the opportunity for develop-ment and increase of prosperity. And although water was also a threat and cause of damage, the benefits of its neighbour-hood prevailed. Today, the challenge for developing cities is a climate change observed in recent decades, which results in violent natural phenomena, e.g. floods and hurricanes. One of the main problems faced by residents of housing estates lo-cated on the water is the increasing risk of flooding. Actions are taken to adapt the functioning of the urban structure and buildings to new water conditions. Currently, the process of floodplain development is progressing on a larger scale. This phenomenon is intensifying and as a result many housing estates are created in areas exposed to flooding. The approach to flood issues in the context of architecture and spatial planning has evolved in recent decades. The new water paradigm is expressed in striving to keep it in place.

How did the settlement in the floodplains look once and today in Warsaw? The research study was preceded by a his-torical feature and then the article drew attention to the ways of shaping new housing estates in flood areas in Warsaw. Us-ing the case study method, new housing estates developed in the flood plains have been analysed, with a listing of their strengths and weaknesses and the assessment of solutions. Issues were discussed on how to protect the buildings from the harmful effects of water. On the basis of the conclusions from the Warsaw case study, project guidelines for floodplains in Warsaw were developed, the aim of which was to identify the most important priorities in the development of floodplains and increase the security of investment arising in these areas.

Communities affected by tidal flooding, need psychological treatment to overcome various problems that arise. The purpose of this study was to analyze: 1) strategic coping of communities affected by tidal flooding, 2) psychological well-being of communities affected by tidal flooding, 3) differences in strategic coping of communities affected by tidal flooding in the three regions, 4) differences in psychological well-being of communities affected by tidal flooding in the three areas, 5) the correlation between strategies coping with psychological well-being in communities affected by tidal flooding. Samples were recruited by purposive sampling of 84 respondents. Data analysis uses Spearman rank correlation and Kruskal Wallis. The results obtained by the average strategic coping of 96.73 with a range of values (79-112). Psychological well-being has an average value 197.39 with a range of values (159-228). Spearman rank results proved to be a relationship between coping strategies with psychological well-being (ρ value: 0,000; r of 0.620) with the strength of a positive relationship (0.620). Kruskal Wallis test results show differences in respondent coping strategies among the three regions taken as research samples with ρ value: 0.018 <0.05. Kruskal Wallis test results showed no differences in psychological well-being of respondents among the three regions taken as research samples with ρ value: 0.340> 0.05.

The research of the soil quality was made in Markowice, the district of Racibórz, the town situated in the South of Poland. The soils of Racibórz were expected to be contaminated with heavy metals after the heavy flood in 1997, which devastated great part of Poland, especially the town. The assays covered macroand microcomponents, contents of total calcium, iron, manganese, sulphur, bioavailable magnesium, potassium and phosphorus, contents of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, zinc, chromium, nickel and copper), electrolytic conductivity, pH of soil, and finally organic matter content in soil. The research showed that soils of the district of Racibórz have a natural content of heavy metals, but the soils have the deficiency of macrocornponcnts, such as phosphorus, magnesium and calcium.

The landscape near the town of Suwałki in northeastern Poland shows intriguing signs of super-massive catastrophic flooding at the end of the last ice age.

Poland is among the countries that are facing water stress, although we largely remain accustomed to having water always there when we need it. Should we take this unrestricted access for granted?

Weed competition in southern Brazil is one of the main limiting factors for Oryza sativa L. (flooded rice) yield. Echinochloa spp. (barnyardgrass) occurs at a high frequency. Although the potential for weed interference in this cereal is well known, there is little information available about the impact of nutrient competition on rice. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the increase of the barnyardgrass population and the development and nutrition of flooded rice plants at different stages of development. The treatments consisted of growing populations of barnyardgrass competing with the crop from stage V4, which were: 0, 1, 6, 13, 100 and 200 plants · m−2. The experimental design was randomized blocks with two replications, and the experimental units were plots 1.53 m wide by 5 m long. Plant biomass, nutrient uptake and loss of productivity were determined with three replications. An increase in the barnyardgrass population reduced the dry mass of rice leaves and stems, regardless of the evaluation period and the vegetative or reproductive period. Barnyardgrass plants had a significant impact on the reduced grain yield of a flooded rice crop, mainly due to high nutrient competitiveness, especially N in the vegetative period and K in the reproductive period. Barnyardgrass caused a loss of yield by unit · m−2 of 1.13%. The competition for N between rice and barnyardgrass plants was higher in the vegetative period, while for K, Ca and Mg the highest competition occurred in the reproductive period.

Flood with intense rainfall and inadequate drainage system leads to flood inundation in residential areas, which in turn damages the housing components and causes a loss. The different level of flood inundation at various affected locations caused varying degrees of losses. This study aimed to identify the damage conditions and analysed the physical loss of the residential building components. The physical vulnerability level is influenced by two damage qualification: the structural and architectural damages. The third-order polynomial function approach produces the best model for both qualifications, yielding the smallest average of errors (RMSE) of 0.0187 for the structural quality and 0.0672 for the architectural quality. The amount of losses related to the architectural elements of the house is smaller compared to the structural one as it is not its main component. This approach is useful as a guide in determining the post-flood handling rehabilitation cost of both structural and architectural elements that will be more appropriate for future conditions. This information is essential as effective management to design flood disaster mitigation strategies and may serve as a basis for flood risk management.

Flood embankments have played an important role in flood protection systems for centuries. Tightness evaluation of water structures should result in determining whether floods may cause seepage incidents, consequently leading to their damage or even destruction. It is assumed that the time of water passage from the river to the protected area under steady-state conditions can be a good indicator of the embankment resistance to long-term water rise. The curve of water passage times shows the values obtained at different ordinates of the dammed water and can be regarded as a characteristic parameter of flood embankment tightness. Determination of the water passage time ( T_p) additionally requires finding the trajectory along which this time is the shortest possible. However, there is no need to analyse the unsteady filtration, which requires the determination of an initial condition and the course of time-dependent boundary conditions. Engineers in practice, often use the time T_pp which elapses from the beginning of flooding to the occurrence of seepage in the protected area. The relationship between the passage time ( T_p) and the seepage onset time ( T_pp) was analysed on a model example. Practical use of the curve of passage times is showed on the example of the reconstruction of the left-bank Warta embankment in the area of Konin.

One of the most important natural phenomena that causes harmful damage around the world is the occurrence of sudden and severe floods. There are various solutions to deal with floods. Among the structural measures of flood risk management, we can mention the construction of levee, detention basin, channel modification, and a combination of the mentioned measures. Manafwa is a flood-prone area in Uganda currently protected by a 6.6 m high levee. Unfortunately, the existing levee does not have ideal performance, and the probability of failure is very high. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to compare seven flood management measures in the flood-prone area of Manafwa and to select the best flood risk management proposal. These management measures are: 1) construction of a levee with a height of 6.5 m, 2) construction of a levee with a height of 7 m, 3) construction of a levee with a height of 7.5 m, 4) construction of a levee with a height of 8 m, 5) channel modification, 6) detention basin and 7) a combination of structural measures of channel modification and detention basin. The results show that although building a levee with a height of 8 m is more expensive than other options, but it reduces the expected annual flood damage to about USD30.5 thous.

The article presents a methodology for determining the value of the expansion coefficient of a reconsolidated caving zone in the context of forecasting the rise in underground mine water levels and consequent surface subsidence caused by the process of flooding the closed coal mines. The paper also provides a brief characterisation of analytical predictive models regarding surface subsidence during the process of flooding coal mines. In order to describe the vertical deformation of the reconsolidated porous rock mass in the caving zone, a linear-elastic medium of Biot was utilised. The conducted theoretical calculations demonstrate a high agreement with the results obtained through the identification of the expansion coefficient parameter based on the analysis of in-situ subsidence measurements in Dutch and German mining areas. The proposed methodology was applied to a real case study involving the forecasting of the impact of the flooding process on the underground workings of the German Ibbenbüren mine. The article constitutes a significant contribution to the field of forecasting the rise in underground mine water levels and surface subsidence during the process of flooding closed coal mines. The presented methodology and obtained results can be valuable for researchers, engineers, and decision-makers involved in the planning and management of mining areas.

Two-third of the area of the Netherlands is flood prone. Storm surges at the North Sea, floods in the rivers, failure of secondary dikes, as well as heavy rainfall may cause flooding. Most of the flood prone areas rely for their existence on drainage by pumping, because their surface level may be permanently or during floods up to several metres below the surrounding water levels. During the past decades climate change is generally felt as a reason for major concern. However, the impacts of climate change on increase in extreme conditions may be up to 45% per century. If we look at the man-induced changes in land use, due to increase in population and rapid increase in the value of public and private property, then one may observe an increase of 100–1,000% per century. One should therefore wonder what would have to be our major concern.

In the paper the relevant processes are described, based on some characteristic data on water management and flood protection in the Netherlands. It is shown that impacts of climate change on water management and flood protection may be expected, but that such impacts can easily be accommodated during improvement works on water management systems and flood protection provisions that from time to time will be required. It will be much more important to take carefully into account the risk of flooding in the planning of land use development, especially for valuable types of land use like urban and industrial areas, green houses and recreation areas.

Flood risk management are considerably influenced by several factors, such as all sources of flooding, social circum-stances, policy and even the potential for local economic growth. To encourage government, business, community and oth-er parties to continue investing in flood risk management projects, it is necessary to give understanding that the projects can also provide economic benefits through systematic predictions and assessments of costs, benefits and social values, espe-cially on flood-affected communities. This study aims: (1) to develop knowledge and understanding on small-scale flood risk management project in Malang City, Indonesia, and; (2) to assess the economic efficiency of the project investment considering all benefits, both monetary and non-monetary. The research method is a mixed method combining quantitative questionnaires (N = 53 from 162 families) with qualitative in-depth interviews (N = 10) and field observations. The runoff discharge and the inundation depth were calculated using hydrology and hydraulic analysis, while the economic efficiency was analysed using cost benefit analysis (CBA). The results show that the community-based flood risk management system can reduce the flood risk up to 30% compared to before the implementation of that system. This system also provides direct financial benefits through the use of drainage channels for fish and vegetables farming. It causes the increase of the net so-cial benefit about 70–90% and the net present value (NPV) greater than zero (NPV > 0). Therefore, the project investment is recommended to be proceeded.

The aim of the study was to analyse the state of flood-prone areas development in 10 towns on the Warta River in the Wielkopolska region in terms of the possibility of adapting existing and planned buildings to flood risks. A significant percentage of the areas exposed to floods was the basic criterion for selecting three towns for the second stage of the research. The analysis of the content of 22 local spatial development plans (LSDP) in three selected towns has revealed that the plans for special flood hazard areas (SFH) and embanked areas lack precise requirements for flood adaptation. The research proved that small riverside towns in Wielkopolska region insufficiently use planning tools to create appealing and resilient waterfronts and reduce their vulnerability. New buildings not adapted to changing water levels are still being built in the flood-prone areas, because LSPD plans do not impose such requirements. The authors proposed the graphical analysis method (based on overlay maps), which allows to indicate the areas requiring special flood-adaptation guidelines. The building and site recommendations in LSDP should refer to BFE level and may include various types of amphibious architecture and their location conditions, which has been identified in the study.

Synthetic modelling of the flood regime is based on the overall knowledge of the hydrological regime in a catchment. The Flow-duration-Frequency (QdF) modelling is used to combine three parameters characterising flood with its mean or exceeded flow, its characteristic duration, and occurrence frequency. Which of these can be established locally at the extreme mean volume flow rates of a catchment reference hydrometric station? The determination of the reference QdF model in mean (volume) and exceeded flows requires two characteristics reflecting the flood regime in a catchment. The first is the characteristic flood duration and the second is the 10-year quantile of the annual maximum instantaneous flow. The comparison of the local situation to the reference QdF models enables to develop the final QdF model of the catchment and therefore the baseline QdF for exceeded and synthetic mono-frequency hydrographs. These are essential components in the study of flood risk mapping and the estimation of the instantaneous peak distribution from mean daily streamflow series.

A little over a decade ago, a number of legislative changes were made in Polish law dealing with spatial planning in relation to floodplains and water management. More specifically, the amendments were a consequence of the adoption of the relevant Floods Directive by the European Parliament and the European Council in 2007, which was introduced as a countermeasure to the allegedly increasing flood risks associated with the ongoing urbanisation of floodplains. It was recognised that the risks of material and non-material damage associated with increasing urbanisation are so great that appropriate legal provisions must be introduced to reduce them. More than a decade has passed since the introduction of these provisions (the Floods Directive was adopted in Poland in March 2011). Over time, it has become apparent that the implementation of many legislative changes in Poland related to spatial planning in floodplains has been impractical and has had a very negative impact on the spatial and economic development of these areas. In this article we focus on the Lower Bug Valley and show how these new laws have led to a deterioration of the living situation in the floodplains. Indeed, the problem of economic decline in the floodplains and Natura 2000 sites is very serious and affects people who have lived for years in a 2–5 km wide strip in quiet surroundings flood-prone areas and along the river bend. Restrictions on livestock and the decline of agriculture are compounded by the lack of interest in acquiring habitats and land. These areas are becoming an open-air museum with residents living on social benefits and pensions.

Imotsko-Bekijsko Polje has an area of 9 500 ha and is one of the biggest karst fields (polje) in the Dinaric Mountains, extending over the territory of two states: Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many hydraulic structures (reservoirs, retentions, tunnels, etc.) have been built since the middle of 20th century in order to protect polje against floods. Therefore, the security from flooding has increased substantially. However, there is still periodical flooding in the southeastern lowest part of the polje. The largest flood in recent times was in January 2010, when 2676 ha (28% of the area) was flooded. The polje is a typical karst with very complex hydrological and hydrogeological relations. In this paper two hydrological stations, Nuga at the lowest part and Kamenmost in the central part of the polje with respectable hydrological series, are statistically analysed. In particular, the efficiency of existing hydraulic structures for flood mitigation is estimated. The research points out that floods in Imotsko-Bekijsko Polje are largely influenced by water management objects (reservoir, retention, tunnel) and only indirectly by precipitation.

The Netherlands has a long tradition in water management, mainly stemming from the geography of the country. The ‘struggle with water’ has been organised from medieval times by the water boards (waterschappen), which are the oldest democratic institutions in the Netherlands. Nowa-days the water boards, 27 in the whole of the Netherlands, are not only responsible for flood protec-tion and regulation of water levels, but for water quality management and waste water treatment as well. In the years in which the WFD implementation has been underway in the Netherlands, several issues have arisen. Cooperation between all levels of government is key. This requires as clear as possible divisions of competences between the various parties involved. It also takes much time, es-pecially in a process in which many matters have to be invented ‘on the fly’, such as criteria for des-ignating water bodies, ecological standards, and the formulation of MEP and GEP.

This study is aimed at evaluating the applicability of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model technique for river discharge forecasting. Feed-forward multilayer perceptron neural network trained with back-propagation algorithm was employed for model development. Hydro-meteorological data for the Imo River watershed, that was collected from the Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority, Owerri – Imo State, South-East, Nigeria, was used to train, validate and test the model. Coefficients of determination results are 0.91, 0.91 and 0.93 for training, validation and testing periodsrespectively. River discharge forecasts were fitted against actual discharge data for one to five lead days. Model results gave R2 values of 0.95, 0.95, 0.92, 0.96 and 0.94 for first, second, third, fourth, and fifth lead days of forecasts, respectively. It was generally observed that the R2 values decreased with increase in lead days for the model. Generally, this tech-nique proved to be effective in river discharge modelling for flood forecasting for shorter lead-day times, especially in areas with limited data sets.

The paper aims to answer the following questions: What are the trends in streetscape design? And how can streetscape become more resilient to climate change in the coming years? Although the research questions of exploratory nature also challenge theoretical claims, this is a hypothetical study, designed to foster a discussion about the visions of the future streetscape and new technology for an urban sidewalk. It covers a description and a cross-case comparison of an experimental product – the Climate Tile, implemented in Denmark in 2018, and a theoretical solution – the Sponge Pavement – a model system based on the structural soil foundation and permeable surface, evolved as an idea in 2018 in Poland. The cases are examples of innovations selected to describe a new type of water-permeable surfaces matching the urban context. Both solutions share common features: they are in that there is no need to place heavy equipment on the project site; they match the urban context of a dense city, being smooth, resistant and easy to clean. The comparison of the Climate Tile and the Sponge Pavement allowed determining the optimal application for the given solution. It also proved the trend towards the rainwater management-oriented direction of the development of the streetscape of the future. The study results could contribute to the discussion of the streetscape of the future. We would like to focus on the idea of the Sponge Pavement for further development in laboratory tests and as the pilot project.

In order to help develop a better understanding of relevant catchment processes, this paper presents the changes in physico-chemical features of the Wieprz River water during the spring snowmelt flood of 2006. The obtained results showed that the groundwater sampled from the springs and the water sampled from the river had a similar and quite stable composition of the basic physicochemical features in the period of solely groundwater feeding (the river is fed only with the water coming from underground sources). The physico-chemical composition of river water during snowmelt depended on the contribution of surface runoff in total outflow and the flood phase. The correlation coefficients between the discharge in the Wieprz River and the concentrations in the studied indices were significantly negative: pH, SEC, HCO3, Ca, Mg, Na, Sr, SiO2, Cl, SO4, F. Significantly positive correlations associated with an increase in discharge were observed in the case of: K, NO3, NO2, total organic carbon, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand. Step and bidirectional responses were noted during the snowmelt flood in the case of the content of NH4 and PO4.

The problem of flood vulnerability has been reviewed in several studies, however, the reviews focused exclusively either on the social or on the physical component of the problem. The components of flood vulnerability are interdependent and each of them makes an equally important contribution to the flood vulnerability index. This study identifies and evaluates the integrated flood vulnerability index ( FVI) of an area by considering its multiple components (social, economic, and environmental). The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was applied to evaluate the weight of each component. The evaluation was based on the judgements of experts working at local government policy- making agencies. The input data for the AHP were acquired through a questionnaire survey. Eleven indicators that delivered significant results were then selected. The FVI results show high flood vulnerability at the local scale. The FVI provides the basis for the identification of villages with high vulnerability indices. The results provide essential information about pluvial flood vulnerability at the local scale, about the area with the highest vulnerability index, and the most vulnerable villages. The results also show that the components that have a significant impact on the flood vulnerability index include environmental components (43.4%), social components (28.5%), and physical components (28.1%).

The article discusses the option for the application of the methodology for the solution of boundary value problems on the conformal mapping for the calculation of filtration process in the horizontal systematic drainage, provided that the drain is installed at a different depth. In particular, the case of methods combining fictitious areas and quasiconformal mappings for solving nonlinear boundary conditions problems for calculating filtration regimes in soils with free sections of boundaries (depression curves) and intervals of the “drainage” type. As an example, the authors designed a hydrodynamic flow grid, determined the values of the flows to the drain, established a section line and elicited other process characteristics. The algorithm for the numerical solution of model nonlinear boundary conditions problems of quasiconformal reflection in areas bounded by two equipotential lines and two flow lines, when for one of the sections, the boundary is an unknown (free) curve with fixed and free ends. The conducted numerical calculations prove that the problems and algorithms of their numerical solution, with a relatively small iterations number (k = 141) suggested in the paper, can be applied in the simulation of nonlinear filtration processes that arise in horizontal drainage systems. Total filtration flow obtained Q = 0.9 dm3·s–1; flow for drains Q1 = 0.55 dm3·s–1 and Q2 = 0.35 dm3·s–1 are quite consistent with practically determined values.

This research examines the relationship between urban planning and environmental conditions. As urb-anisation processes increase the density of the built-up tissue of cities, this process puts a lot of pressure on land and natural resources such as rivers and soil. This article aims to verify whether environmental risks (e.g. flooding) and land protection from them is sufficiently addressed in the examined spatial policies and strategies.
This problem can be observed in the Powiśle district of Warsaw where buildings are constructed in the proximity of the unregulated Vistula River and that is why there is the direct risk of flooding. It is done despite the lack of legally binding Master plans which would consider the natural risk.
The literature research on the Municipality-led spatial planning policies and documents was completed with qualitative interviews with key actors in this process (planners: the authors of Master plans under construction, regarding the area of Powiśle South and North). Main designers and team members were asked about the priorities of these plans as well as their dynamics (taking more than ten years to establish those plans).
An environmental analysis was conducted in the GIS mapping system of many databases. The comparison of both aspects of current development, formal urban planning and environmental protection was made in an interdisciplinary approach. The study presents an analysis of the situation for urban planning along with flood maps and other environmental conditions. The results show the lack of necessary alignment of environmental issues with the planning documentation and strategies.