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Proper management of water resources has got significant social and economic dimension. For this reason, it is an essential element of almost every national law, European Union law, and also international law in a broad sense. Legislative authority, during legislature process, should allway s balance private and public interests to adopt compromised solutions. Furthermore these solutions must be determined mostly by hydrology to be appropriate to the nature of waters and environment. Because of mentioned issues, it is very undesirable state of affairs when law simply does not fit to the object of its regulation. In Water Law Act of 2001 Polish legislator classifies lakes, depending upon the type of watercourse (natural or man-made) flowing into or out of the lake, among either flowing water or stagnant one. This regulation is against hydrological classification of lakes. Moreover this legal act introduces different treatment of dammed lakes in the context of public access to the lakeshores. Indicated problems have got significant impact on many aspects such as ownership of lakes, obligations of the owners of the lakes, lakes and environmental protection and, mentioned above, right to public acces to the lakes.

The differences in the hydrological and normative classifications of lakes are, therefore, discussed. Moreover, special attention was drawn to diverse presentation of the elements of the hydrographic network in the individual maps. Despite the established high usefulness of maps for the classification of lakes, field observations are recommended to verify the conclusions formed on the grounds of desk studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the range and course of changes in the thermal regime of 14 rivers in Poland over the period 1961–2010. Eleven rivers are located in the Central European Plain, and the others flow in the foothills of the Carpathians Mountains. Statistical analyses take into consideration the results of daily measurements of water temperature carried out at 16 hydrological stations by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management—National Research Institute. In the first part of the analysed period (1961–1986) water temperature in most rivers declined in relation to its mean value for the entire study period (1961–2010). In 1987 there was a reverse trend: the temperature started rising. The fastest increase in water temperature was recorded in the western part of the study area, and it became slower towards the east. In the southern part of the study area (the foothills) changes of that kind were not observed. The mean yearly temperature of fluvial waters in the Central European Plain showed a positive trend, ranging from 0.17 to 0.27°C (10 years)-1, whereas it did not change in the rivers in the foothills of the Carpathians Mountains. Its fastest rise was recorded in spring, and it reached from 0.08 to 0.43°C (10 years)-1. The increase in water temperature correlated strongly with rising air temperature. The temperature of river waters in the lowlands is believed to be a good indicator of climatic changes.Editor M.C. Acreman Associate editor T. Okruszko [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the impact of the global warming to the lake summer surface water temperatures (LSSWT) for 2015. Topics include the increase in the global surface air temperature (SAT), the prominence of the warm anomalies in LSSWT in central Europe, and the influence of the climatic variability and local characteristics to the LSSWT.