Poland under threat of drought. Urgent meeting between the President and Ministers

We request that you manage your water rationally. Minister Ardanowski asked me to urge you to pay attention to this, because there is not much water here. The relevant programmes are already underway, but they are spread out over the years

— said President Andrzej Duda at the press conference after the meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Environment, Minister of Climate Change and Minister of Maritime Affairs and Inland Waterway Transport. The President also appealed to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to settle the issue of last year’s drought compensation unpaid to farmers.

There is an increase in temperature all over the world, more and more areas are threatened with desertification, but there are also longer periods of drought in Poland and we have discussed this with ministers. The level of precipitation and a snowless winter cause the first symptoms of drought to appear

— said the president.

I asked Minister Ardanowski about the situation, and he informed me that the situation will depend on how the May period will go; at the moment it is very dry

— he informed.

The President informed that currently the moisture level of forest litter is 20 percent, and if it falls below 10 percent, then a ban on access to the forests will have to be introduced.

If there is no rain in the near future, the situation may become dangerous

— said the president.

We ask for rational water management; also for rational management of the water we use for watering our gardens

— appealed Duda.

Tłum. K.J.