Abstract

Human civilizational activity contributes, to a large extent, to conspicuous degradation of surface waters, rivers included. Pollution, whose composition changes according to, e.g., catchment type and development, is fed into rivers from different point and non-point sources. Because rivers are a major route for long-distance migration of a variety of substances, and a source of drinking water for many regions, it is necessary to protect them and improve their quality. To this end, several methods and techniques are used; however, their application is conditioned by the objectives of actions to be implemented and the results of a conducted catchment inventory in terms of sources and types of pollution that reaches a particular point of the river. Hydrological and geological conditions that precede the given point, subject to preventive and corrective measures, are also to be considered.