Division for Water Pollution Control Economics

The activities of the Division are carried out along two main lines:

• scientific and research,
• educational.

The Division organizes scientific seminars and prepares expert analyses. So far, the Division has organized seven seminars on the following topics:

1. “Economic analyses in water management,” Cracow University of Economics, May 8-9, 2009, Kraków.
2. “Economic problems of water management,” State Higher Vocational School in Głogów, May 8-9, 2013, Głogów.
3. “Water protection and water management” (session during the conference), University of Łódź, October 13-15, 2014, Łódź.
4. “Flood and drought risk: achievements and challenges,” AGH University of Science and Technology, May 8, 2015, Kraków.
5. “Economic problems of water management in the modern world. Water scarcity and excess,” Municipal Water and Sewerage Company, May 9, 2016, Kraków.
6. “Water resource management” (session during the conference), University of Łódź, September 25-26, 2018, Łódź.
7. “Economic problems of water management in the modern world – challenges of modernity,” Cracow University of Economics, May 10, 2019, Kraków.

The Division cooperates with two sections of the Committees of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS):

• The Water Management Systems Section of the PAS Committee for Water Management, chaired by Prof. Tomasz Walczykiewicz, PhD Eng. (Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute).
• The Sanitary Engineering Section of the PAS Committee for Civil and Water Engineering, chaired by Prof. Marian Kwietniewski, PhD Eng. (Warsaw University of Technology).

Upon request of these PAS committees, members of the Division have prepared two expert studies:

1. “Assumptions for the development of a methodology for assessing the economic efficiency of investments in water management” (2009) – prepared jointly by the Division and the PAS Committee for Water Management (Prof. Kazimierz Górka, Prof. Maciej Maciejewski, Prof. Rafał Miłaszewski, Prof. Piotr Małecki, Prof. Tomasz Walczykiewicz).
2. “Economics of water supply and sewage systems” (2014) – prepared as part of the work of the Sanitary Engineering Section of the PAS Committee for Civil and Water Engineering (Prof. Rafał Miłaszewski, Dr Eng. Beata Karolinczak).

The Division cooperates with:

• the Foundation of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists in Białystok,
• the Water Supply and Protection Economics Team at the Bialystok University of Technology, established in 2013 by the Rector for the Environmental Engineering program, and headed by Prof. Rafał Miłaszewski between 2013-2016.

Between 2007 and 2009, the Division collaborated with the Foundation on an ecological education project titled: “Teaching the subject of water supply and protection economics as a tool of sustainable development policy.” The result was a textbook titled “Materials for studying water supply and water pollution control economics”, edited by Dr Eng. Maciej Cygler and Prof. Rafał Miłaszewski, published in 2008 by the Foundation. An English-language version was published in 2009 under the same title. Members of the Division are also co-authors of two textbooks in the field of economics and environmental management, published by the Bialystok University of Technology:

1. Economics and environmental protection management for engineers”, edited by E. Broniewicz, J. Godlewska, R. Miłaszewski, Bialystok University of Technology Publishing House, 2009.
2. Broniewicz E., Godlewska J., Lulewicz-Sas A., Miłaszewski R.: Economics and management in environmental engineering, Bialystok University of Technology Publishing House, 2019.

Educational courses on economic aspects of water supply and protection systems are conducted within the Environmental Engineering program at many technical and agricultural universities, including: Bialystok University of Technology, Cracow University of Technology, Lublin University of Technology, Rzeszów University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.

The current activities of the Division are carried out in the following thematic areas:

1. The Water Management Systems Section of the Committee for Water Management of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), chaired by Prof. Tomasz Walczykiewicz, PhD Eng. (Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute).
2. The Sanitary Engineering Section of the Committee for Civil and Water Engineering of PAS, chaired by Prof. Marian Kwietniewski, PhD Eng. (Warsaw University of Technology).
3. Division members are affiliated with various economic and technical universities in Poland, including Bialystok University of Technology, Cracow University of Technology, Silesian University of Technology, Rzeszów University of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology, and Cracow University of Economics.

The Division cooperates with the Water Supply and Protection Economics Research Team, appointed by the Rector of the Bialystok University of Technology and operating within the Department of Environmental Engineering Technologies and Systems. Since Prof. Rafał Miłaszewski’s transfer to Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, the team has been led by Dr Piotr Ofman (Bialystok University of Technology) since 2017.

The current activities of the Division focus on the following areas:

1. • conducting research on the role of wastewater treatment plants in the process of obtaining energy from renewable sources (RES);
   • developing a database of economic indicators for water management;
   • cooperation with the Economics and Statistics Group on Water Management of the International Water Association (IWA);
   • integrating the activities of economists working in the field of water use and protection economics with those of specialists in environmental engineering.

Description of the Division’s activity is available here: Division for Water Pollution Control Economics – Activities

Following a verification of members conducted in 2018, the Division currently includes 31 individuals, accounting for approximately 30% of the total membership of the Polish Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists. Only members of the Association may become members of the Division.

1. conducting research on the role of key factors determining socio-economic development, namely Water, Energy, and Food;