The Lower Silesian Voivode decided to lift the ban on using the waters of the Bóbr River. Regulation No. 22 of 16 September 2026 repeals the earlier Regulation No. 18 of 4 July 2026, which introduced restrictions on the Bóbr.
The new regulation entered into force on the day it was announced in the Official Journal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
The ban applied to the section of the Bóbr from the top of the Pilchowice Dam to the Rakowice Reservoir. It covered, among other things, entering the water, bathing, watering animals, recreational and commercial fishing, using the water for economic purposes, and using watercraft.
Why was the ban introduced?
The restrictions were introduced following tests that showed exceedances of microbiological parameters. As indicated in the justification for the decision to lift the ban, the Lower Silesian State Provincial Sanitary Inspector had assessed at the time that using the water for bathing and recreation could pose a risk to human health.
Further tests and continuous monitoring of the river were conducted in the following weeks. The services checked, among other things, the water quality and parameters related to its oxygenation. Earlier service announcements also indicated that sediment testing and monitoring of the section of the Bóbr covered by the ban were being carried out.
Voivode lifts the ban. What has changed?
The regulation’s justification states that the results of subsequent tests, including tests of the bottom sediments of the Pilchowice Reservoir, were submitted for assessment to the relevant institutions responsible for the safety of people and animals.
Their opinions and recommendations provided grounds for concluding that there were no reasons to keep the ban in place. The Lower Silesian State Provincial Sanitary Inspector recommended lifting it.
At the same time, the situation along this section of the Bóbr is still to be monitored by the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection and the State Sanitary Inspection. Test results and current information are to be published by GIOŚ.
Important reservation concerning the use of the water
Lifting the ban does not mean that every use of the Bóbr’s water is free from additional requirements.
The announcement recalled that the section of the Bóbr from the dam in Pilchowice to the Rakowice Reservoir is neither a bathing site nor a place occasionally used for bathing.
“Separate water-quality requirements still apply when watering animals and irrigating crops,” it was emphasised.
What about anglers?
Important information also concerns fishing. The Scientific Council at the Main Board of the Polish Angling Association stated that there were no grounds for continuing the fishing ban.
At the same time, until the results of fish tests are available, fishing along this section should be conducted on a catch-and-release basis.