This Component aims to enhance protection against summer floods and winter floods along the Middle and Lower Odra, including Szczecin, Słubice, Gryfino as well as other smaller towns along the river.
The investments include the following:
This Subcomponent includes activities being part of integrated water management in the Lower Odra River basin. The project activities involve, among others, construction of new dikes and improvements to existing flood embankments of the river in order to increase flood safety in adjacent areas as well as works aimed at improving flow conditions for flood waters within the diked area.
The works carried out under this Subcomponent are designed to improve conditions for the flow of water and ice in periods of ice jam risk (enabling operation of icebreakers along a long section of the river, improving the carrying capacity of selected bridges, creating proper docking and mooring facilities, enabling free flow of ice in the estuary section of the river, etc.).
This Subcomponent comprises strengthening and widening of the existing flood embankment along the Odra River and construction of a new section of the dike protecting the city of Słubice from floods.
Within the Lower and Middle Odra River area, the most significant flood risk is posed, in winter conditions, by ice jams created when flowing ice is stopped by existing obstacles such as shallow areas in the riverbed, narrowing of the riverbed, and other obstacles caused as a result of sudden changes in the river current, and backwater from sea waters and northern winds, which contribute to the creation of ice jams (the Lower Odra River runs a typically meridional course). This in turn causes damming of water and flooding of adjacent areas.
The main aim of the project activities planned to be carried out is to reduce the possibility of ice jamming and enable icebreaking operations to be conducted, which is the most efficient tool for minimizing risks of winter floods.
These activities will ensure safe passage of ice down the river and thus reduction of flood risk to adjacent areas. At the same time, it is necessary to protect existing residential buildings and infrastructure in selected places on the Middle and Lower Odra River by constructing new flood embankments and upgrading existing ones.
The section of the Odra River covered by Component 1 flows in a wide river valley of high nature quality.
Despite significant transformations of the riverbed itself, resulting from adapting the Odra River to the function of a waterway (these works were carried out in the second half of the 19th century), the valley has maintained typical features of a large lowland river, such as a significant portion of grasslands within its floodplains, side arms of the river, oxbow lakes, etc.
This type of the landscape structure in the entire valley is reflected by a high proportion of nature conservation areas, such as national parks, Natura 2000 sites, and landscape parks. Important parts of the Odra River valley are riparian forests and hornbeam-oak forests, situated in various parts of the river valley, and associated animal species, primarily birds.
The Odra valley also performs an important function of an ecological corridor connecting the northern and southern regions of Poland as well as a migratory route for diadromous fish migrating between the upper part of the Odra River basin and the Baltic Sea.