Drinking water supply in Slovenia relies primarily on groundwater resources, which represent a vital natural asset but at the same time a vulnerable system exposed to human activities. The identification and management of potential pollution sources are therefore crucial for maintaining the quality of water resources. At the level of the European Union and the Republic of Slovenia, legislation has been adopted to ensure the sanitary safety of drinking water, which requires identification of risks along the entire supply chain, from drinking water source to consumer.
This research focuses on the catchment areas of three drinking water sources in the Lower Savinja Valley: the Medlog catchment area in a porous aquifer, the Jelševa Loka catchment area in a karst aquifer, and the Hudinja surface water catchment area, all of which are managed by the public utility company Vodovod Kanalizacija Celje. For each of these sources are designated water protection areas (inner, intermediate, and outer), aimed at limiting human activities and land use. The risk assessment was conducted using the DPSIR framework, which enables the identification of drivers and pressures, the evaluation of their impacts on the state of the environment, and the definition of existing and required measures to prevent drinking water pollution.
For each source, the main drivers threatening water quality were identified, with agriculture, urbanization, and climate change emerging as the most significant. Differences in the vulnerability of water supply sources result primarily from the type of aquifer, the type of water abstraction, and land use within the water protection areas, all of which determine their susceptibility to contamination.
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