On 6 March 2019, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the Polish Water Management Authority to discuss routine maintenance, operations and preparation for the 2019 sailing season of the waterway connecting the Oder and Vistula rivers.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Polish Water Management Authority, the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation, directors of the Regional Water Management Boards in Poznań, Bydgoszcz and Gdańsk, and members of the Working Team for the IWW E70.
During the talks, the current involvement of the Lubuskie, Wielkopolskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Pomorskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeships in the revitalisation of the Polish section of the International Waterway E70 was presented. Mr Przemysław Daca, President of the Polish Water Management Authority, discussed the scope of operations of the Polish Water Management Authority and priorities for activity in water management. He also announced that the Okole lock was scheduled for commissioning in the third quarter of 2019. The lock will be available for limited use for tourist vessels (as part of technical tests) at the beginning of May 2019. Next, the directors of the Regional Water Management Board (RZGW) presented activities undertaken in relation to maintenance of the waterway on the Oder – Vistula connection, carried out with the available resources, regarding sounding of the route, improvement of navigation marking, purchase of equipment for mowing of vegetation, elimination of local shoals, etc. Plans were also presented which may improve navigational conditions on the above-mentioned route in the coming years. The catalogue of activities concerns, among others, repair of locks, routine maintenance work, elimination of so called “bottlenecks” rendering navigation impossible, and adaptation of the Noteć River on the section between the Bydgoszcz Canal and the Drawa confluence to class II navigability.
The meeting also discussed the necessity of publishing current navigation announcements and information on obstacles to navigation (in connection with conducted investment projects), also in English, on the National Water Management Authority website. Attention was drawn to the need for placing links to the above-mentioned messages on websites of entities related to the development and promotion of water tourism in Poland.