HYDROGEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF KOŠICE CITY : MONOGRAPH

Abstract

The settlement network of Slovakia is broken down into smaller settlements nationwide, which is also applied to the city Košice. The position of this city is defined by the coordinates 48° 43' north latitude and 21° 15' east longitude. The area studied covers the whole city of Košice, the largest distance is in the N-S direction (25 km) and the smallest in the E-W direction (3.5 km). The altitude ranges from 184 to 851 m above sea level but the centre of the city is at 208 m.

On July 24th in 1996, the National Council of the Slovak Republic adopted the Act No. 221/1996 Coll. on Territorial and Administrative Organisation of the Slovak Republic. Based on this act, the city of Košice was divided into 4 districts (Table 1) and in the lower level into 22 wards, which were in 2001 further divided into 126 urban zones. At its administrative borders the city has an area of 242.3 km². Košice has 239,095 inhabitants (2017) and its population densityis 987.2 inhabitants per km² (2016 data).

One of the most important needs of Košice is the supply of drinking water in sufficient quantity and quality. The main water sources – the water reservoir Starina (district of Snina) and the water reservoir Bukovec (Košice-okolie district) – are situated outside of the city limits. Long-distance water pipelines supply drinking water from them. Within the water system of Košice, the groundwater sources of the Slovak Karst (grouped water pipelines of Turňa–Drienovec–Košice) and some other sources located directly in the city are used as well.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the oldest water supply system of the city employed the captured springs of the Čermeľ Valley and later also the wells situated in the valley of that Hornád (Hernád) River. Because of the industrial development of Košice, the demand for local use of groundwater has increased. Therefore, especially in the 1960s and 1970s numerous water sources were sought for, explored and built within the territory of the city.

This monograph describes the hydrogeological conditions in the territory of the city of Košice. It also provides a review of the distribution of groundwater sources in the city as well as an evaluation of their technical parameters, yield, water quality and quantity.