Changes in Runoff Distribution in River Basins on Territory of Slovak Republic

Abstract

Water is one of the pre-eminent factors among environmental concerns critical to societal well-being. As the global population grows and the demand for water increases, so does the importance of effective and sustainable management of water resources. To provide that, we need to know well the distribution of water resources, their variability, and the assumption of their development in the foreseeable future. Continuous and irreversible changes related to global warming are also reflected in Slovakia. A significant regional increase in air temperature in individual regions is accompanied by rapid changes in other climatic elements, especially in precipitation conditions (Markovic et al. in Change of the temperature a precipitation regime in Slovakia, pp. 18–23, 2019). Not only the seasonal precipitation that changes but also their temporal and spatial distribution (an increase of precipitation in mountain areas in the north and decrease in the south) or the proportion of liquid and solid precipitation in the cold half of the year (significant increase of liquid part of precipitation in winter) (Fasko et al. in Decadal changes in snow cover characteristics in Slovakia over the period 1921–2020, 2020). This study aimed to show some of the results of detection and to analyze changes in runoff distribution in river basins on the territory of the Slovak Republic (Poorova et al. in Evaluation of Hydrological Drought, The annual runoff and the changes of runoff distribution during the year, 2019). In addition, the intention was to identify possible changes in the hydrological regime of surface waters and groundwater. Therefore, analyses have been provided on the data series of natural monthly discharges (surface water) and spring yield (groundwater) of national monitoring points of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute.