Floods are one of the most significant natural hazards in Slovakia causing tens of hundreds of hundreds of millions of euros in damage to property and infrastructure every year. One form of flood risk is floods caused by water spills from riverbeds, that are caused mainly by prolonged rains.

Albert assesses the flood threat at four levels:

• Area with a potential risk of flooding
• Moderate risk of flooding
• Medium risk of flooding
• High risk of flooding

Source data:Background data of flood risk maps (Slovak Water Management Company), documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

The threat of concentrated runoff arises especially during heavy rainfall events or during spring snow melting. The water not captured by the vegetation cover and does not soak into the soil is set in motion down the slope after the unevenness of the terrain has been filled. This outflow accumulates and there is a concentrated outflow. The furrows created during land management (transfer of mechanization, forest and field roads, drainage ditches) contribute to its accelerated creation. The speed depends on the slope of the flow and the surface roughness. This concentrated runoff has a high washing and entraining ability, so it causes erosion of the riverbed and the soil cover in its immediate vicinity. This damages the land and the surrounding buildings. Washloads and alluvium are transported to watercourses, where they cause further complications and damage.

Albert assesses the threat of concentrated runoff at two levels:

• Area without any threat of concentrated runoff
• Area with the threat of concentrated runoff

Source data: Processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Avalanches are a natural phenomenon that is specific to mountainous and alpine areas where they cause injuries and deaths every year. However, they can also cause significant damage to housing, transport infrastructure, and forests.

Albert assesses the avalanche risk at three levels:

• Moderate risk of avalanche
• Medium risk of avalanche
• High risk of avalanche

Source data: Documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Increased windiness during the day reduces the sensory air temperature and increases evaporation. Dangerous atmospheric phenomena, such as strong and turbulent winds, accompanied with floods, represent the largest cause of damage in the conditions of Central Europe. They cause significant damage not only to infrastructure but also to human lives.

Albert assesses the risk of soil contamination at three levels:

• Moderate risk of increased windiness of the area
• Medium risk of increased windiness of the area
• High risk of increased windiness of the area

Source data: Documents of Climate Atlas of Slovakia, Landscape Atlas of the Slovak Republic, The Global Wind Atlas; processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Water erosion is the removal of soil mass along the slopes by running water (stream), coming from extreme rainfall and sudden melting of snow, or its relocation and storage elsewhere. Flat erosion affects virtually all fields in sloping terrain, so it occurs on regularly cultivated slopes. In the case of precipitation events, it represents the combined action of raindrops and streams; in the case of melting snow, it is caused exclusively by raindrops. Flat erosion caused by heavy rainfall is the sum of the effect of raindrop erosion, surface flushing, teardrop, and inter-streak erosion.

Albert assesses the risk of soil contamination at three levels:

• Moderate risk of erosion
• Medium risk of erosion
• High risk of erosion

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Wind erosion is a degradation process that causes damage not only to agricultural land and production by topsoil, fertilizer, and seed and crop destruction, but also by clogging of roads, watercourses and by air pollution. Wind erosion is caused by the destruction of the soil surface by the mechanical force of the wind (abrasion), the removal of disturbed particles by the wind (deflation) and the deposition of these particles elsewhere (accumulation). According to technical standard STN 75 4501 (2000), agricultural land is endangered by wind erosion when its surface is without vegetation cover and when the area of interest encounters erosive effective winds.

Albert assesses the threat of wind erosion at three levels:

• Moderate threat level
• Medium threat level
• High threat level

Source data: Documents of the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute (VÚPOP), documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Pothole erosion (sometimes referred to as gorge or gutter) occurs with the concentration of rainwater in a linear runoff, which increases its erosive capacity. The depth of the potholes ranges from 2 to 30 meters and the length can reach several hundreds of meters.

Albert assesses the threat of pothole erosion at three levels:

• Potential threat of pothole erosion – potholes are not realistically mapped; the area is prone to potholes
• Increased level of threat – smaller potholes within the slope, realistically mapped
• High level of threat – potholes are active, realistically mapped

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Wetting limits the intensity of economic activities in the country. It is particularly important in agriculture, construction, environmental protection, and planning. Wetting occurs most often in the bottoms of valleys, drainage overflows, foothills, pre-barrier anthropogenic areas (embankments). Level of the threat of wetting influences hydro melioration measures, agrotechnical operations, selection of sowing procedures and cultivated crops, location of buildings. Wetlands can be a seedbed of pathogens, mosquitoes, but also the occurrence of endangered species of plants and animals.

Albert assesses the threat of wetting at three levels:

• Medium probability of wetting – wetting is observed mainly in the soil profile. During the year, it is also possible to temporarily observe surface water.
• High probability of wetting – the occurrence of surface water during the year

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

The threat of drought can affect many aspects of human life. Lower rainfall and higher air temperatures can affect crop failure, reduced water levels in water management, but also with the impact on the quality of life of organisms, the drainage of water meadows, loss of biodiversity, and many socio-economic threats such as lack of drinking water or reduced economic growth.

Albert assesses the threat of drought at three levels:

• Low probability of drought
• Middle probability of drought
• High probability of drought

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the Climate Atlas of Slovakia, Landscape Atlas of the Slovak Republic, processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Slope deformations without adequate countermeasures pose a threat and repeatedly cause damage to land, line and other structures, underground and above-ground engineering networks, as well as agricultural and forest land. They belong to the society’s most widespread and most feared geodynamic phenomena. The societal importance of selected representative localities determines the number of applied monitoring methods, as well as the frequency of measurements. The basic set of methods for observing sliding-type movements consists mainly of geodetic and inclinometric measurements. Changes in the stress state of the rock environment are monitored by repeated measurements of the field of pulsed electromagnetic emissions and by measurements of surface residual stress. The status of the groundwater, the most important landslide factor, is determined by regime observations of changes in the groundwater level and the productivity of drainage facilities.

Albert assesses the threat of slope deformations at three levels:

• Low probability of slope deformations
• Middle probability of slope deformations
• High probability of slope deformations

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, Landscape Atlas of Slovak Republic, current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

The threat of karst phenomena such as ravages, floods or cave ceilings is a very exceptional phenomenon in the Western Carpathians. They result from extremely rare unusually strong geomorphological processes in a karst environment. The karst geosystem is not stable and despite the location of human activities at the foot of the karst slopes it is currently under the influence of anthropogenic activities in the country. The very fragmented relief does not allow the full development of large human dwellings. However, these areas are attracting particular attention from the growing impact of tourism. Occasionally, surface ridges, cave ceilings, or floods caused by torrential rains may occur. A dense network of small tectonic fissures accelerates the infiltration of rainwater into the underground, but in the Western Carpathians these phenomena are rare, almost ruled out.

Albert assesses the threat of karst phenomena at three levels:

• Low probability of negative karst phenomena
• Middle probability of negative karst phenomena
• High probability of negative karst phenomena

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Loess is a porous soil with an unstable bond between the grains. It can suddenly reduce its volume due to dampness which causes collapses of its structure, and potential damage of water or sewerage networks. Volume instability is manifested either by a decrease in the volume of the soil, referred to as transplantation, or by an increase in the volume, referred to as swelling. Volumetrically unstable soils in Slovakia include volatile soils (Quaternary aeolian sediments), swelling clays (Neogene or Quaternary clays) and heavily overconsolidated clay soils of the nature of clay shales, claystone, etc. During the registration of damaged objects in the territory of the East Slovakian lowlands, it was found that the defects on the objects are not only caused by a crowding of the foundation soils, but also by their swelling and shrinkage.

Albert assesses the loess transplantation hazard at three levels:

• Low probability of a sudden change in the volume of loess
• Middle probability of a sudden change in the volume of loess
• High probability of a sudden change in the volume of loess

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Slovakia is not one of the seismically active countries. The size of the seismic threat in Slovakia varies based on territory, there are localities where the seismic threat is higher and can pose a threat to humans and their activities. The seismic threat on the map expresses the intensity (magnitude) of the earthquake at a 90% probability of its occurrence over a period of 50 years.

Albert assesses the threat of seismic activity at three levels:

• Moderate risk
• Medium risk
• High risk

Source data: Documents of the Slovak Institute of Technical Standardization (SÚTN), STN EN 1998-1/NA/Z standard, Landscape Atlas of the Slovak Republic, current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Radon risk refers to the likelihood of an increased or high level of radon volume activity in a subsoil. At the same time, it expresses the degree of danger of radon penetration from the subsoil rocks and its accumulation in buildings.

Albert assesses the radon activity risk at three levels:

• Low radon risk
• Medium radon risk
• High radon risk

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, Landscape Atlas of the Slovak Republic, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Environmental burden is a site, where hazardous substance caused by human activities, poses a significant risk to human health or to the mineral environment, soil, and groundwater, except the environmental damage (Act no. 384/2009 Coll.). Based on preliminary studies and estimates, there are around 30,000 potential sources of pollution in Slovakia. A systematic inventory of environmental burdens revealed that 1,845 sites posed a serious risk to human health and the environment. These are mainly industrial premises with the long-term hidden and uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances into individual components of the environment, large-scale agricultural holdings, railway depots, uncontrolled landfills of hazardous waste, unsecured storage of pesticides, fuels, and other hazardous substances, pollution caused by the armed forces, mining, and other activities during which hazardous substances have been handled on a long-term and uncontrolled basis.

Albert assesses the threat of environmental burdens and landfills at three levels::

• Low probability of endangerment by environmental burdens and landfills
• Medium probability of endangerment by environmental burdens and landfills
• High probability of endangerment by environmental burdens and landfills

Source data: Documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Industry, as a sector of the economy, often deals with hazardous materials (carcinogenic, mutagenic substances, possibly highly flammable and explosive substances, etc.) of various impacts on the environment or operates in hazardous areas where with the risk of landslides and with not rare losses to human lives. Infrastructure accidents are closely related to engineering errors, extreme weather, or insufficient monitoring. Accidents involving industrial facilities and infrastructure affect air, water, soil and often the quality of life of organisms living in their vicinity.

Albert assesses the risk of accidents involving industrial buildings or technical infrastructure at three levels:

• Low probability of industrial accident
• Middle probability of industrial accident
• High probability of industrial accident

Source data: Information system for the prevention of major industrial accidents (SAŽP), documents of the State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr, documents of the DMR (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography Bratislava), current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Air pollution expressed by the amount of particulate matter in the air. Monitored substances are sulfur dioxide SO₂, nitrogen oxides NO₂, and NO_x.

Albert assesses the soil pollution at three levels:

• Moderate risk of air pollution
• Medium risk of air pollution
• High risk of air pollution

Podkladové údaje: Documents of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ), Landscape Atlas of the Slovak Republic, current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

Content of risky trace elements in soils with a high degree of biotoxicity for humans and warm-blooded animals. A soil monitoring in Slovak Republic monitors the contents of the Cd, Pb, Cr, Zn, Hg, Ni, Co, Se, and As elements, namely their total content, the content in 2M HNO₃, and in case of As element the content in 2M HCl.

Albert assesses the soil pollution at three levels:

• Moderate risk of soil pollution
• Medium risk of soil pollution
• High risk of soil pollution

Source data: Documents of the Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute (VÚPOP), Country Atlas of the Slovak Republic, current landscape structure (ESPRIT Ltd.); processing and interpretation by ESPRIT Ltd.

The Act No. 543/2002 Coll. on Nature and Landscape Protection determines five levels of territorial protection. The range of restrictions increases with increasing level of protection. In an overlapping area with several protected areas with different levels of protection, the highest of them always applies. On the territory of the Slovak Republic the first level of protection applies. Into the national system of protected areas, we include large-scale and small-scale protected areas.

Source data: The State Nature Conservancy of Slovak Republic

NATURA 2000 is the name of the network of protected areas of the member states of the European Union. The main goal of its creation is to preserve the natural heritage, which is important not only for the Member State concerned, but especially for the EU. This system of protected areas is intended to ensure the protection of the rarest and most endangered species of wild plants, wild fauna, and natural habitats occurring in the European Union and to ensure the conservation of biological diversity throughout the European Union through the protection of these species and habitats. Natura 2000 is divided into:

• AoEI – Ares of European Importance declared under the Habitats Directive
• PBA – Protected Bird Area declared under the Birds Directive

Source data: The State Nature Conservancy of Slovak Republic

The Territorial System of Ecological Stability (ÚSES) addresses the nationwide provision of ecological stability in Slovakia, the interconnection of natural areas and the protection of habitats and representative species in their natural environment. It is a spatial structure of interconnected ecosystems, their components, and elements, which ensures the diversity of conditions and forms of life in the country. The basis of this system is represented by biocentres, bio corridors and interaction elements of superregional, regional or local importance. We divide the elements of ÚSES into:

• Biocentre - an ecosystem or group of ecosystems that creates permanent conditions for the reproduction, shelter and nutrition of living organisms and for the preservation and natural development of their communities.
• Bio corridor - spatially interconnected a set of ecosystems that connects biocentres and allows for the migration and exchange of genetic information of living organisms and their communities, to which spatial elements interact.

Source data: Slovak Environment Agency of the Slovak Republic

According to Act no. 220/2004 Coll. all agricultural lands included in the Bonited Soil – Ecological Units (BSEU) belong to one of the 9 groups of soil quality. Lands with the highest soil quality belong to the 1st to 4th group and are protected in accordance with §12 of Act No. 220/2004 Coll. on the Protection and Use of Agricultural Land.

Legislative restrictions

Activities that are limited to the territory of the 1st to 4th groups of soil quality are listed in the Act no. 220/2004 Coll. on the Protection and Use of Agricultural Land.

Source data: Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute of Slovak Republic

Protected deposit area includes an area where buildings and facilities not related to the mining of an exclusive deposit could make it impossible or more difficult to mine an exclusive deposit.

Legislative restrictions

Activities that are limited to the territory of the protected deposit area are set out in Act no. 44/1988 Coll. on the protection and use of mineral resources (Mining Act) § 18.

Source data: State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr

The Protected Water Management Area (PWMA) is a defined area of natural accumulation of surface water and groundwater, where surface water and groundwater reserves are naturally formed and restored.

Legislative restrictions

Activities that are limited to the territory of the protected water management area are set out in the Act no. 305/2018 Coll. on Protected Areas of Natural Accumulation of Water.

Source: Water plan 2015

The protective zone of water source of the 1st degree is determined for all groundwater water sources and all surface water sources. The 2nd and the 3rd degree protective zone are determined when the area of water generation and circulation is not ensured sufficient protection by other type of water protection or when the protection of the water source by the protective zone of the 1st degree is insufficient. The purpose of the protective zone is to protect the usable quantity, quality, and health of the water source in relation to natural conditions and to the influences of human activity, as well as based on the documentation required for the application for the designation of the protective zone.

Legislative restrictions

• prohibited activities that damage or endanger the quantity and quality or health integrity of the water source water
• activities that are prohibited in the third degree of restriction are defined in Decree no. 29/2005 Coll., which lays down details on the determination of protection zones of water resources, on measures for water protection, and on technical modifications in protection zones of water resources

Source data: Water plan 2015

The area from which the entire surface outfall naturally flows into the watercourse up to the profile delimiting the end of the water supply watercourse, as well as the area from which the surface waters are artificially transferred to the watercourse basin.

Activities that are limited to the territory of the watercourse basin are listed in the Act no. 364/2004 Coll. Water Act.

Source data: Water plan 2015

A historic reserve is an area with a comprehensive historical settlement and large concentration of immovable cultural monuments or an area with groups of significant archaeological findings and archaeological sites that can be defined topographically.

Source data: The State Nature Conservancy of Slovak Republic

Road communications protection zones serve to protect the roads and their traffic. The use of the ground plots located in those protective zones must also be adapted in accordance with this objective. The boundary of road protection zones is determined by vertical areas led from 15 to 100 meters on both sides of the road. These zones represent the zones of negative impact of the road traffic on its surroundings. The most significant negative impacts of transport development include noise, production of traffic emissions, dust, barrier against biota migration, light effects, etc.

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability

Railway protection zones are zones from 30 to 60 meters wide on both sides of the railway line. The activities in these protective zones must be in accordance with the protection of the line and must not restrict the operation of the lines or put them in jeopardy. They are the zones of negative impacts resulting from the development of railway transport, especially noise, emissions production, dust, etc.

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability

Protective zones of airports and aircraft ground facilities are declared according to §29 of Act no. 143/1998 Coll. on Civil Aviation, which also defines the restrictions arising from the relevant protective zone.

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability

The protective zones of electric and electronic lines consist of the zones of different widths along the lines. Size of the zone depends on the type and performance of the given object. In case of the one-point elements protection zones range from 10 to 30 meters from the building or fencing of the power station and from the construction of the transformer station. It is forbidden to erect the buildings and carry out surface modifications, that would disturb the stability of those protective zones as well as it is forbidden to build facilities and plant vegetation that would place these energy structures and their uninterrupted and safe operation in jeopardy (Act No. 656/2004 Coll. on Energy and consequential amendments). From an ecological point of view, they act as barriers to biota migration, especially to air movement. Their electromagnetic effects on living organisms are also significant.

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability

The protective zone of cemeteries and crematoria is determined at a size of 50 meters from the burial ground boundary and at a size of up to 100 meters from the crematorium ground plot boundary. Buildings other than buildings that provide funeral services may not be permitted nor located in these zones (Act No. 131/2010 Coll. On Funeral Services).

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability

The hygienic protective zones (HPZ) of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are governed by regulations on the technical requirements for construction (STN 75 6401 and STN 75 6402). Between the WWTPs and continuous housing construction, HPZ is defined according to the establishment of wastewaters (WW), technology of wastewater treatment, sediment management, the degree of coverage of WWTP facilities, the level of providing WWTP with deodorization technologies, the method of production and spread (leakage) of aerosols, the prevailing wind direction, noise generated by the WWTP operation, as well as the characteristics of the affected environment (e.g. terrain configuration, type and distribution of verdure, purpose of use of the environment). Due to unavailable information regarding the possibility of wastewater of individual WWTPs, the protective zone reaches 200 meters from the WWTP, which is the highest value that HPZ can reach with WWTPs.

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability

The hygienic protective zone (HPZ) of landfills extends 300 meters around the landfill. Their purpose is to protect the environment from the negative effects of waste storage, such as dust, bacteriological sources of diseases, sources of emissions, odors, etc. As with other HPZs, there is prohibited implementation of selected socio-economic activities in these areas. From the health and landscape point of view, it is appropriate to plant the area around the landfill with a strip of insulating vegetation to mitigate the negative effects on the environment.

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability

The hygienic protective zone (HPZ) of agricultural areas is set at size of 300 meters in the vicinity of these buildings as a protection against adverse effects such as noise, dust, odor, etc. The main criteria for their setting are the type and number of livestock, as well as the method of collecting, disposing of, and using feces.

Source data: Regional territorial system of ecological stability