Water quality in the Berounka river basin

Abstract

The article presents a complex evaluation of the development of water quality in the Berounka river basin during the 1990s and of its main influencing factors - point and nonpoint sources of pollution of sudace water. During this period there occurred a partial improvement in the water quality in the Berounka river course. This decline of pollution was not followed by the same development at its key tributaries. Main affluents - Strela, Litavka, Tremošná, Rakovnícký creek and Kaznejovský creek remain even at the beginning of the 21't century under the heavy influence of intensive pollution from local communal and industrial sources as well as point and nonpoint pollution of agricultural origin. This development causes gradual increase of differences in water quality between the main course and its main tributaries, which is analogical to the general situation of a large part of the Czech part of the Elbe river basin.