The Danube: bluer day by day, thanks to regional cooperation

ShareThisBy Olga Apostolova, Danube-Carpathian Programme Office In the summer of 2006, American Mimi Hughes spent 89 days swimming down the entire length of the Danube River from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, travelling an average 33 km per day. The 51-year old high school teacher and mother of four became the first person to swim the Danube without fins and only the second to attempt the feat at all. Like the fish that swim the Danube, Mimi became intimately acquainted with the quality of the river’s water. Although pollution from chemicals has improved over the past decade or two, biosolids – Mimi’s euphemistic expression for sewage – remain a major problem, with some cities still dumping a significant amount of sewage into the river untreated. Throughout the swim, Mimi took an anti-biotic effective against E. Coli bacteria, and wore a full wetsuit, swimming cap, goggles and ear plugs. Not so blue Johann Strauss Jr was certainly exaggerating the Danube's water quality when he composed its anthem Blue Danube in 1867 - Vienna and other cities on the 2,850 kilometre river were already ingrained into the habit of using the river as a convenient sewer. More intensive Industry, agriculture and navigation accelerated adverse effects, with the low point being reached in the mid 1980s. But today the Blue Danube is on the way back, thanks to an impressive display of multilateral cooperation by the 19 Danube basin nations. And while the water is becoming more blue, the banks are becoming more green, with world-class programs to restore wetlands and floodplains that keep the river healthy, provide natural and more effective flood mitigation, boost recreational use of the river and are playing a big part in bringing back threatened wildlife. Water quality issues remain, however. Although oil slicks have mostly gone, in the last 10 years many analyses have identified pollution (e.g. cadmium, lead, mercury, DDT, lindane and atrazine) of the watercourses and groundwater due to agriculture, industry and household discharges as a significant water management issue that endangers the environment and people alike. The situation should improve in coming years thanks to massive investments in wastewater treatment , such as the new wastewater treatment plant in south Budapest, which opened at the end of 2010, and which takes care of over 90% of Budapest's sewage. Navigating a way to improving fish populations Historically, the Danube and some of its tributaries have formed important trade routes across Europe. The harnessing of these rivers to facilitate navigation has radically changed their physical and ecological characteristics, while pollution from ships and boats is also a significant problem. As a boy, Gábor Guti used to fish regularly downstream from Budapest, near Százhalombatta. "In those days we could catch many fish," he said. "Although the members of my family liked fish meals, sometimes my parents told me not to carry home any fish when I went fishing. "Nowadays I go fishing with my son, and I realized that in the same places, with the same methods we cannot achieve the same catch I fished 30 years before." Dr. Gábor Guti heads the Hungarian Danube Research Station of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and is the veteran of nearly two decades of research on river fish. "In the negative effects of riverine traffic, I have to mention the considerable water backflow that is caused by the bigger ships," he said. "The speed of this flow is 4-5 times faster than the swimming speed of young fish. " Current plans for developing navigation on the Danube disregard many of the river's other uses and benefits – including the even more historic use of the river as a significant food source. Cleaning and greening opens up tourism possibilities The Lower Danube Green Corridor Declaration, signed in 2000 by the governments of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova, commit the four countries to preserve a total of 935,000ha, including enhanced protection for 775,000ha of existing protected areas, and new protection for another 160,000ha, and to restore 224,000ha of former wetland areas. The Green Corridor has been quite beneficial for developing tourism in the area. Michael Zhmud is one of the pioneers of tourism development in the Ukrainian Danube Delta. He started his tourism business, Pelikan Tours, 10 years ago, inspired by experience he had gained visiting other deltas in his capacity as an ornithologist. The business has been expanding rapidly ever since. Most clients come from Ukraine, including the surrounding area and Odessa, which is about three hours away by car, but a growing number also come from abroad, from Russia, Moldova, Belorus as well as Western Europe. “Many come for beach holidays and river cruises, but a growing segment are special excursions, including for bird watching.” New plans with a source-to-sea focus The adoption of the Danube River Basin Management Plan by all Danube states in 2010 marked an important new step in the management of the Danube. The first comprehensive management plan for the river, which has been officially adopted by all Danube countries, including EU and non-EU member states, outlines concrete measures to be implemented by the year 2015 to improve not only water quality but also the ecological health of the river and its tributaries. Measures include the reduction of organic and nutrient pollution, offsetting environmentally detrimental effects of manmade structural changes to the river, improvements to urban wastewater systems, the introduction of phosphate-free detergents in all markets and effective risk management of accidental pollution. The Danube Strategy In an effort to provide a more coordinated approach toward its so-called macro regions, in 2010 the European Commission launched an initiative to develop a Danube Strategy, which can help bring together and implement existing policies and legislation to achieve long-term sustainable development across the region. "The EU Danube Strategy presents an opportunity for the countries of the Danube region to get ahead of the development curve – to pull themselves together and put themselves on a path toward a long-term and prosperous future, including a green, carbon-free and resource-efficient economy," said Andreas Beckmann, director of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme. "The unprecedented crises that we are facing are ample proof that business as usual is simply not an option," Beckmann said. "We need a paradigm shift, and with a bit of imagination and courage, the Danube Strategy can provide this by helping to realise a bold and long-term vision for sustainable development in the region."