Lemko resorts in smog – report of the Supreme Chamber of Control

The Supreme Chamber of Control – the main and independent entity of the state control of the Republic of Poland has published a report on resorts located on the territory of Poland. The SCC made a research on whether some particular resorts meet the conditions necessary for further performance of their role, i.e. appropriate air quality, water quality and other climatic conditions.

There are 45 localities in Poland that have the status of a resort. In the new year’s report the Chamber took into consideration 11 of them that simultaneously meet legal and climatic-natural conditions in order to be included in the group. Among the 11 resorts, as many as 4 resorts from Lemkovyna were included, i.e. Muszyna town, as well as villages: Wapienne, Żegiestów and Złockie. They are qualified as mountain resorts, however the Chamber distinguishes also between submontane, seaside, lowland resorts. There is also a separate category of localities where you can find healing peat-bogs and mineral waters.

In their report, the Chamber admitted that not only the supervision of the Ministry of Health was poor when it comes to the resorts, but also much failure can be found on the side of the communes that have the duty (stemming from particular laws) to take care of the resorts. Only Muszyna commune (where Złockie and Żegiestów are located) has carried out some research regarding the conditions imposed on resorts. In the other cases, there were more obvious omissions.

The report is not positive. None of the localities met all the determined conditions. As many as 10 of the 11 resorts exceeded the acceptable noise level: apart from Kamień Pomorski, Kołobrzeg, Krasnobród, Nałęczów, Połczyn-Zdrój, Rabka-Zdrój, unfortunately also four resorts from Lemkovyna are included there (Muszyna, Wapienne, Złockie, Żegiestów). Also, the air quality does not look good. Unfortunately, neither of the communes carried out complex research, or if any internal reports took place, they were rather based on the results from the counties and then they were brought to the commune area which, according to the Chamber, is not appropriate.

One of the conclusions made by the Chamber after the examination was a warning for some communes that do not supervise the resorts regarding noise level, quality of air and water – they may lose the status of a resort. Further conclusions were broader, bottom-up actvities aiming for agreement with the Ministry of Health and Environment when it comes to further research on the quality of the resorts in Poland. The Chamber has also reported de lege ferenda postulates, indicating the need for change of some legal acts that are necessary in order to supervise resorts completely and appropriately, and improve their quality.

The aforementioned situation shows the constantly increasing problem of, mainly smog, but also water quality. What is even more surprising, is a fact that comes when we refer to an article that was published in November 2015 on our website. Back then, we were proud of the fact that air quality in Lemkovyna was without question, that Lemkos did not have such  a problem as Kraków or other big cities in which the problem of harmful smog was affirmed already back then. Since then, only a bit more than a year passed and the situation of some resorts in Lemkovyna has got worse very quickly.

Complete report of the Supreme Chamber of Control is available on the official website of the entity.

Phot. above: report of the Supreme Chamber of Control