Resumen
Development of inland waterways in Poland faces many problems associated with the conviction of the small socio-economic effects and large environmental losses associated with this type of project. The aim of this article is to verify those opinions and to show the consequences of leaving the lower Vistula in its current state. It has been shown that the current state of the lower Vistula is not natural, and generates a lot of risks and social, economic and environmental losses, and that liquidation of them requires large expenditures, but does not solve problems in a perspective. The result is demonstration, on the example of the lower Vistula, that the multipurpose development of the waterway is a solution compatible with the principles of sustainable development.