THE STUDY ON SPECIFIC ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF WATER PRECIPITATION IN BIELSKO-BIAŁA REGION

The results of long-term studies on specific electrical conductivity of water precipitation conducted in seven re search points located near Bielsko-Biala were presented. At each point a period of investigation lasted ca. 1 year. The research was performed in the year range 2002–2010. The collected samples of precipitation were characterized by a great diversity of conductivity (1.8–188.5 μS·cm -1 ); arithmetic and weighted average of all measurements was respectively 36.5 μS·cm -1 and 29.9 μS·cm -1 . Most frequently, conductivity of rain water was “slightly increased” (15.1–30.0 μS·cm -1 ) and “significantly increased” (30.1 –45.0 μS·cm -1 ), respectively 36.6% and 25.9% of the total samples. Samples of precipitation classified as not contaminated (<15 μS · cm -1 ) were observed in each of the research points. They represented 8.9% of the all samples. There were seasonal changes in the conductivity of precipitation. During the heating season the conductivity was higher than in the warm season. Rainwater conductivity was formed mainly by pollution coming from the west and southern-west direction, and by local sources of its emission.