The Roof Report reveals the complexityof the Danube, and its interrelated tributaries, including the Morava, shown here. The report also presents the main pressures in the Danube River Basin District and the related environmental impacts.

Using natural boundaries.
Water management functions best at the river basin level, using natural geological borders, and not administrative or political boundaries. This can be challenging for international river basins, where rivers cross national frontiers. In the Danube Basin, however, while only some of the 13 basin countries are Member States of the EU, all have agreed to work together to implement the EU Water Framework Directive.

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires integrated and coordinated river basin management plans for all European river systems. To fulfil this, river basin countries must define and map river basin district and sub-units, as well as identify river basin characteristics.

Coordinated efforts.
The ICPDR, in cooperation with the countries of the Danube River Basin, has prepared the Roof Report covering the characterisation of surface waters and groundwater. “The report is a comprehensive environmental analysis looking at characterisation, impacts of human activities and economic aspects of water uses in the Danube basin,” says Joachim D’Eugenio, chairman of the River Basin Management Expert Group of the ICPDR.

D’Eugenio calls the completion of the document an “amazing achievement”. The analysis, he says, “demonstrates that by working together, we can jointly set priorities and identify the necessary meas-ures that enable us to meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive in the most cost-effective way. And achieving these objectives means healthier rivers, lakes, coastal and ground waters for the benefit of the Danube people and the Danube ecosystem.”

The issues referred to in the basin-wide overview will be the basis for the preparation of the Danube River Basin Management Plan by the end of 2009. “This report not only focuses on the current situation,” says D’Eugenio, “it also identifies the way ahead by identifying key problems that remain to be solved and by discussing policy options for the international scale.”The full report can be downloaded at www.icpdr.org.

An integral part of the Roof Report is the Danube River Basin District Overview Map, which provides information on the main surface waters of the basin. Click here to see this map (PDF-file).

Kirstie Shepherd
is a freelance journalist living in Vienna
and has called the Danube River Basin home since 2000.