PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Cities in the EU are extremely vulnerable to climate change. They are facing growing climate change impacts such as increased precipitation and extreme floods, more frequent and stronger storms, and periods of more extreme heat and cold. Climate change also negatively affects infrastructure, impedes access to basic urban services, and reduces quality of life in cities.
Despite these risks, many cities in Poland have yet to address climate change. The reasons include insufficient understanding of climate change issues, urban planning not being adjusted to climate change risks, a slow response to climate disasters, and limited public awareness of climate variability and climate change-induced hazard mitigation.
However, local authorities have the potential to protect cities from negative climate change impacts (particularly related to water management) and at the same time protect local habitats - in line with the EU Adaptation Strategy.
OBJECTIVES
The project’s overall objective was to make the city of Radom more resilient to climate change by building demonstration ‘green/blue infrastructure’ for managing extreme storm water flows and controlling local flood risks. The aim is to mitigate extreme flows of water coming from outside the city and increase storm water retention by restoring and creating multi-use retention areas (while creating habitats for biodiversity), and by re-naturalising the river to restore its natural retention capacity.
Specific objectives were to:
- Demonstrate new ways to mitigate extreme runoffs on sealed surfaces in the inner city to minimise local flooding, extreme overflow to drainage system and inflow to natural habitats of the city river;
- Integrate and enhance biodiversity in all project actions, particularly restoration of habitats in urban water bodies and creation of micro-habitats in the climate adaptation infrastructure in the city;
- Mainstream climate adaptation into city planning and increase knowledge on the subject for informed decision-making at local level through the establishment, operation and assistance of two working groups with broad stakeholder participation throughout the project implementation;
- Raise awareness of and build capacity for climate adaptation through building urban green/blue infrastructure to promote understanding of the impacts of climate change on economic, social, and environmental conditions as well as health in the city, and to communicate the importance of cost-effective adaption options; and
- Exchange experience in climate change adaptation through building urban green/blue infrastructure and territorial multi-level adaptation approach. Outputs such as vulnerability assessment, comprehensive approach to multi-level territorial rainwater management, GIS tools, and demonstration green/blue infrastructure will be shared with other interested parties.
RESULTS
Thanks to the project actions the city of Radom has become more resilient to climate change and less prone to floods (to extreme storm water flows and local flood risks). The big and small water infrastructure objects contribute to reduction of flood risk for the city, enable a more effective flood wave management (outside and within the city), increase the retention capacity of rainwater in urban areas, improve the quality of water in several watercourses flowing through the city and in the Borki reservoir, as well as enhance biodiversity in urban areas (by restoration and creation terrestrial and water microhabitats, and improvement of ecological connectivity). The environmental benefits include improved conservation of valuable natural habitats located in urban area (thanks to creating multi-use retention areas and by re-naturalising the river valley and restoring its natural retention capacity).
The biodiversity monitoring has confirmed the project’s beneficial impact on quantity and quality of water-related habitats and species. In most of the analysed areas, species diversity increased significantly. However, as species need time to fully colonise new areas, on some of the infrastructure objects completed close to the project’s end (e.g. the floodplain on the Potok Północny) the positive impact on biodiversity can only be confirmed in the years to come.
The project has also contributed to improvement of the chemical and physical quality of water. Most of the analysed parameters indicate effective reduction of pollutants transported by river systems (concentrations of nitrogen, total phosphorus and suspended solids), also the sanitary condition of the Borki reservoir (including the bathing areas in the summer months) has clearly improved compared to the period before the project start.
The main project actions included building new and modifying existing big blue-green infrastructure (BGI) facilities as well as building a number of small-scale BGI objects within the city of Radom. Tasks related to large water infrastructure included: adaptation of sedimentation ponds and a weir at Borki reservoir; building a floodplain on Potok Północny; restoration of Mleczna river valley; adaptation of the AO rainwater channel and constructing sequentional sedimentation-biofiltration system (SSBS) above the Borki reservoir; building a floodplain on Cerekwianka River. Activities related to small BGI consisted of building climaponds (small biological reservoirs for collecting rainwater), climaboxes (artificial above-ground reservoirs for collecting rainwater), tree trenches, swales and green roofs. Altogether more than 30 such (BGI) objects have been created in 13 sites across the city center.
Reconstruction of meanders of the Mleczna River in the city centre slows the water flow and increases its retention in the valley. The Borki Reservoir together with the colmatation ponds retain almost 30,000 m3 of water flowing in the Mleczna River to Radom after rainfall. The floodplain polder constructed on the Cerekwianka River has the capacity to take over up to 17,000 m3 of water carried by the river into the city after heavy rainfall. The multifunctional floodplain on Potok Północny enables retaining 11,000 m3 of rainwater carried by the river. In total, the implemented systems can reduce the quantity of water brought to the city centre by nearly 60 thousand m3, preventing flooding in many of its parts. Big BGI is supplemented with small BGI, which in addition to their educational and demonstration significance, enable rainwater retention, reduce local flooding, improve the microclimate and local conditions for biodiversity.
The MRadom has acquired from private owners 4.31 ha of land for two investments: foodplain on Potok Północny (2.11 ha) and floodplain on Cerekwianka River (2.2 ha).
The dissemination of the project objectives and its results as well as awareness-raising actions were carried out through numerous conferences, events, press articles, leaflets, booklets, films and meetings with various groups of professionals, NGOs, Radom inhabitants, students and school children. These tasks were supported by such promotional materials as 7 roll-ups, 9 000 leaflets in Polish and English, book “Best Practice Guidelines” (800 copies printed) and a brochure “Vulnerability Assessment of Radom Urban Space to Climate Change” (in English and Polish). The beneficiaries have produced 3 long films promoting the project actions and results and 13 short ones. All films have English subtitles. The final online conference summarising the project results was attended by nearly 180 people.
The Radom project was very well assessed by the Scientific Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Ecohydrology Programme (EH-SAC), who appreciated the project’s solid understanding of ecohydrology techniques and its ability to demonstrate to the public the ecohydrology approach in urban areas. In effect, the Radom city became a part of the Global Network of Ecohydrology Demonstration Sites of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP).
More detailed results:
Adaptation of colmatation ponds and the weir at the Borki Reservoir had the strongest influence on the improvement in removal of the total suspended solids (by 39%), nitrogen (reduction of various nitrogen forms from 17% to 34%), phosphorus (from 1% to 12%) and iron (from 18% to 29%). Values of the remaining parameters (conductivity, oxygen level) remained at the same level. All this resulted in a significant improvement of the sanitary status of the Borki Reservoir in the summer months of 2022, especially in the vicinity of the bathing beach (no toxic cyanobacteria strains were detected), when compared to 2016, before the investments were implemented.
Restored meandering of the River Mleczna, introduction of deflectors and gravel heaps slowed the water flow, and this translated into a noticeable reduction in the quantity of suspended solids transported with it (from 11% to 15%) and the total nitrogen (from 25% to 30%). The mean values for total suspended solids, ammonia nitrogen, and total phosphorus upstream from the renatured river section were also lower, and this may confirm a positive effect of the implementation of solutions in the upper part of the catchment, i.e., in the Borki reservoir, colmatation ponds and the River Cerekwianka. Sealing of the A0 sewer reduced contamination with iron compounds, which penetrated into it together with groundwater, with a reduction in its levels from 100% in 2016 to just 12% in 2022.
Nine species of amphibians were found, including five species endangered in the European Union (listed in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive): the moor frog, the pool frog, the European green toad, the common spadefoot, and the rarest of them, the northern crested newt (in the Potok Północny region). This last species was detected with the innovative method of analysing DNA from water samples, so-called environmental DNA (EDNA). Presence of 124 bird species was found in the studied area, including 15 species listed in Annex I to the Birds Directive (as many as 13 of them were found in the “Borki” area), including: the kingfisher, the black stork, the corncrake, the syrian woodpecker, the peregrine falcon, and even a visitor from the far north, the black-throated loon. Several valuable species of insects were found.
The most interesting insect species discovered include the beetle Cucujus cinnaberinus and the butterfly large copper. They are protected under the national and the European legislation. Furthermore, 23 species of dragonflies were found at the monitored sites. The scarce blue-tailed damselfly, a dragonfly previously not recorded in Radom, was observed for the first time. When compared to the period before starting the LIFE project, the number of fish species increased by eight. 26 species of fish were found in total, including also two species listed in Annex II to the Habitats Directive, the asp and the weatherfish.
