Waters inflowing to the eastern crosscut of the "Saturn" hard coal mine (210 meters level) have been exploited as potable since 1978. The main recharge for this intake comes from the area where mining activity ruptured an impermeable layer which separated Triassic and Carboniferous water horizons. Since the beginning of July, 1997 significant changes in the volume and quality of waters have been observed which influenced the operation of the intake. Declining water quality affected the supply of potable water to the Department of Sanitary Engineering in Będzin. Increasing amounts of inflowing waters caused problems with their removal with the existing mine dewatering system and transfer to surficial canal in the vicinity of the "Paweł" shaft of the mine. The paper characterizes the reasons of observed changes. The reasons are natural and are related to the essential changes in recharge conditions by meteoric waters at the break of June and July, 1997. Important role has been also played by anthropogenic factors i.e. large-scale engineering activity in the recharge area which resulted in the exposure of about 170,000 square meters of Triassic carbonates to direct infiltration. Moreover, deep excavations have been made for the main storm and sewage drains. As a result, inflitration of a large volume of meteoric waters has been facilitated.