What distinguishes the LIFE Pilica integrated project is the ecohydrological approach to water management developed in the 1990s by Professor Maciej Zalewski from the European Regional Center for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The main assumption that the conscious regulation of biological processes allows the use of ecosystems as tools to improve the quantity and quality of water is part of the current global policy of the European Commission promoting nature-based solutions, called NBS (nature-based solutions).

Focusing on nature-based solutions means active protection or restoration of ecosystems, such as oxbow lakes and wetlands in the Pilica valley, which have great potential for water accumulation and purification. We should also approach the areas covered by legal protection with care. Their high share in the Pilica catchment is a buffer for waters and the environment against pressure resulting from human activity. These are also activities aimed at restoring ecological and hydrological processes in rivers by restoring their continuity (construction of fish passes), but also by proper maintenance work.

Hydrotechnical facilities are an important element of the system of regulating water relations in soil in agricultural areas. On the one hand, their proper functioning is crucial for the regulation of water outflow from the catchment, which can be used to increase water retention in the landscape. On the other hand, these facilities are an obstacle to fish migration, which is why it is necessary to analyze the needs and later rebuild the facilities, taking into account the need to build fish passes in order to restore the biological continuity of the river.

As part of the project, concepts will be developed for 10 objects from the Pilica river basin and for the Sulejów Reservoir, along with design documentation for future investments aimed at ensuring morphological continuity. In addition, the prepared project documentation will be used as the basis for applying for funds for the implementation of the investment.

Restoration of oxbow lakes and riverside wetlands is an important part of the fight to increase water retention in the landscape. The results of the study carried out by the RZGW in Warsaw "Analysis of the possibility of increasing water retention in forest, agricultural and urbanized areas in the area of the Pilica ZP as part of maintaining and increasing the existing retention capacity in the Water Region of the Middle Vistula" recommend the implementation of measures to restore oxbow lakes and wetlands in the context of increasing water retention water in the catchment area. Such recommendations are also included in the Drought Consequences Counteracting Plan (PPSS).

As part of LIFE Pilica, a review of oxbow lakes and wetlands located in the Pilica valley within the Łódzkie Voivodeship is being carried out. The next step will be the selection of objects for which a detailed inventory will be made and guidelines for their active protection or restoration will be developed. The completed documentation will be the basis for applying for funds for investments, the implementation of which will constitute a complementary action.