The T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute (TGM WRI), a public research institution, was established as one of the first scientific institutes in the independent Czechoslovak Republic. The Institute was established as the State Hydrological Institute by a resolution of the Ministerial Council of 9th December 1919. After 1989, the Institute was transferred to the newly established Ministry of the Environment and from 1993 it began to function as its contributory organization. As a public research institution, TGM WRI was established by Provision No. 12/06 of the Ministry of the Environment on the issuance of a charter of a public research institution dated 12th December 2006. The Institute was entered into the Register of Public Research Institutions of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports on 1st January 2007.
The main mission of the Institute is:
- research of the status, use and changes in aquatic ecosystems and their relations in a landscape and related environmental risks and waste management,
- professional support of the water protection, prevention of flood risks and waste management based on the above mentioned research.
The Institute focuses its activities mainly on research and development of strategies, methods and information systems in the areas of surface water and groundwater quality and quantity and water use, taking into account all technical, economic and other aspects in their mutual interactions. The Institute provides objective and professional services primarily for public administration under the Water Act and participates in the development and implementation of the state water policy. The activities of the Institute include research, expert and methodological activities and the development of information subsystems for the execution of state administration in waste management and the development of integrated approaches to prevention of environmental pollution.
Publication activities of the Institute have a long tradition. The first hydrological publication was edited in 1926. Nowadays, the Institute is an editor of Vodohospodářské technicko-ekonomické informace (VTEI) (Water Management Technical and Economic Information Journal – the VTEI Journal), a peer-reviewed bi-monthly (ISSN 0322-8916 and ISSN 1805-6555 – on-line), and publications providing results of the research – series Research Studies (ISSN 1211-3727), Research for Practice (ISSN 1211-3751) and Collection of Papers of the TGM WRI (ISSN 1802-4742).
Website of T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute is available here.