Developments in water quality monitoring and management in large river catchments using the Danube River as an example

Abstract

Effective management of water quality in large rivers requires information on the influence of activities within the catchment (urban and rural) throughout the whole river basin. However, traditional water quality monitoring programmes undertaken by individual agencies normally relate to specific objectives, such as meeting quality criteria for wastewater discharges, and fail to provide information on basin-scale impacts, especially in transboundary river basins. Ideally, monitoring in large international river basins should be harmonised to provide a basin-scale assessment of sources and impacts of human activities, and the effectiveness of management actions. This paper examines current water quality issues in the Danube River Basin and evaluates the approach to water quality monitoring in the context of providing information for a basin-wide management plan. Lessons learned from the monitoring programme in the Danube are used to suggest alternative approaches that could result in more efficient generation of water quality data and provide new insights into causes and impacts of variations in water quality in other large international river basins.

Management challenges related to long‐term ecological impacts, complex stressor interactions, and different assessment approaches in the Danube River Basin

“…The ICPDR implements the “Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube River” from 1994, known as the “Danube River Protection Convention”. This convention aims at achieving sustainable and equitable water management, including the ecological integrity, conservation, improvement, and sustainable use of surface and ground waters in the DRB (Chapman et al, ).…”

“…Sustainable Use of the Danube River" from 1994, known as the "Danube River Protection Convention". This convention aims at achieving sustainable and equitable water management, including the ecological integrity, conservation, improvement, and sustainable use of surface and ground waters in the DRB(Chapman et al, 2016).The main management targets are specified in the "Danube River Basin Management Plan" (DRBMP; ICPDR, 2009), which guides the implementation of the WFD on the catchment scale(EC, 2000). The…”

Simulation of the Transboundary Water Quality Transfer Effect in the Mainstream of the Yellow River

“…After obtaining the degree and range of the water quality transfer effect in the main stream of the Yellow River, according to Equation (6), the pollution contribution rate of the sections in each province and region could be calculated. Taking the most serious COD polluted section, i.e., Shizuishan and the most serious NH3-N polluted section, i.e., Tongguan as examples, the contribution rates of the pollutant concentration for the upper reaches of the two sections could be displayed in the form of pie charts, as displayed in Figure 10.…”

“…Meanwhile, they pay a great deal of attention to the strategies costs, along with the risk-related mitigation and adaptation measures [5]. Furthermore, cross boundary water quality monitoring is used to analyze or predict pollution changes [6][7][8]. Based on the water quantity and pollutant discharge change to construct the water environment input response model [9], a great mass of quantificational…”

Assessment of the interaction between surface- and groundwater after the diversion of the inner delta of the River Danube (Hungary) using multivariate statistics

“…resulting in a decrease in heavy metals) in the mainstream river due to sediment deposition in the dam reservoir (Chapman et al 2016, Fan et al 2015. However, as previously mentioned, the disruption occasioned to the natural biogeochemical cycles of nutrients, carbon and metals (Friedl and Wüest 2002), may be added to the list of the complex and cumulative negative impacts of damming on water quality (Dams 2000, EC 2000,.…”