Progress report for
WATER OVER GOLD - PROTECTION OF ŽITNÝ OSTROV
Achievement at a glance
Rovinka municipality initiated its own local municipality project named „Environmental Screeing of Underground Waters in Rovinka“. The Commission for Environmental Protection (municipality of Rovinka) invited inhabitants and various interlocutors to 2nd public debate dedicated to and named WATER OVER GOLD on May 18, 2023 . The partners for co-operation came up from this public event organized on the occasion of World Water Day 2023.The municipality of Rovinka is one of the first municipalities in the direction of groundwater flow from the capital Bratislava and its numerous registered environmental burdens. This is also the reason why municipality of Rovinka decided to conduct its own environmental screening of groundwater, which can help to detect the pollution of the underground water and to protect public health.
As a network of observation objects were chosen inhabitants´ drilled domestic wells (depth from 8 through 16 meters) within 12 various areas in the cadastre of Rovinka. The blue arrows on the picture bellow show the general flow of groundwater from Bratislava towards the Rye Island.
The Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic (ÚVZ SR) welcomed the initiative of the village of Rovinka, which can contribute to increasing the public's awareness of drinking water and the possibilities of drinking underground water from individual wells. Therefore the ÚVZ SR suggested cooperation in the form of consultation or consulting activities and in accordance with the current capacities of its laboratories.
Challenges faced in implementation
In October 2023, Rovinka municipality made public the call for domestic well owners from different parts of the village to apply and register themselves for water analysis within the project. Maximum number of well water samples that could be analyzed in the first round of the screening (due to limited financial resources from the municipality budget) was 12 . The municipality also opened its bank account for potential donors and fundraising.Next Steps
Veronika BastaBeneficiaries
From short- term perspective those are Inhabitants of Rovinka municipality.
From long-term perspective beneficiaries are inhabitants of wider area not limited by the Slovak borders.
Actions
May 17, 2024 – short video clip shooting in RovinkaJune 3, 2024 – second water sampling in Rovinka
September 18, 2024 - seminar for neighboring municipalities about environmental water screening and its meaning for inhabitants of the Rye Island (Žitný ostrov).