Hidrológiai Közlöny, 2017 (97. évfolyam)

2017 / 3. szám - MANAGING WATER QUALITY (ONGOING PROJECTS AND FUTURE CHALLENGES) - Baranya Sándor - Józsa János - Kéri Barbara - Bakonyi Péter - Habersack, Helmut - Haimann, Mariene - Holubova, Katarina - Lukac, Miroslav - Tuchiu, Elena - Vartolomei, Florin - Aussendorf, Michael: Danube Sediment Management Restoration of the Sediment Balance in the Danube River (további szerző: Christoph Maier)

Sándor Baranya et al: Danube Sediment Management - Restoration of the Sediment Balance in the Danube River

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Management Guidance for future transnational water management activities. The third specific objective is to strengthen inter-institutional collaboration in sediment management. A well-established and permanent communication among experts and a participatory and transnational approach, including all relevant stakeholders and policy makers on national and transnational levels are a pre-requisite to reach the overall project objective. The partnership composition and the implementation methodology of the project ensure this interaction between the key players in sediment management of the Danube River.

The project is composed of six work packages out of which two run through the whole period: WP1, WP2. WP1, Project Management will be performed on four levels: Steering Committee (1), Lead Partner (2), Work Package Leaders (3) and Project Partners (4), respectively. Also, an independent Advisory Working Group of experts consisting of the Associated Strategic Partners (ASPs) guarantees the quality of the project implementation. WP2 covers both internal and external communication. WP6, the synthesizing WP produces the main outputs of the project and manages stakeholder involvement to ensure that all the relevant beneficiaries are involved in the communication.

There are three technical work packages (WP3, WP4 and WP5), built up in a bottom-up and participatory approach, each of them having permanent interaction with WP6. International Stakeholder Workshops will be organized within each technical WP to transfer the gained knowledge directly to the user of the results of the given work package. Sediment data collection (WP3) will provide information to the sediment data analysis (WP4) and will provide a guideline for good practices of sediment monitoring methods, ln WP4, the main result will be the sediment balance of Danube, which explains the problems which arise with sediment discontinuity negatively influencing flood risk, inland navigation, ecology and hydro- power production (main findings go to WP6). Possible answers to these problems will be given in WP5 analysing the impacts and providing measures via case studies (main findings go to WP6).

As the most important outputs of the project two comprehensive documents will be prepared (WP6). First, the Danube Sediment Management Guidance will give concrete recommendations explaining what sort of measures can improve sediment management. Second, a more detailed Sediment Manual for Stakeholders explaining how to implement those measures for each stakeholder.

The innovative character of the project is a first and unique multi-sectoral with a multi-stakeholder interrelation and a transnational, cross cutting sediment management at basin, sectoral and local scales. This approach combines the data based sediment balance and good practice sediment management measures, aiming to a sediment management guidance for future transnational water management activities.

LINK WITH THE EUSDR ACTIONS, EXPECTED PROJECT RESULTS

This project applies a multi-level governance approach and contributes on EU, Danube Region, and national levels. On EU level, the project addresses the Water Framework Directive, which aims at achieving the good status of European waters by 2015, to which the project directly contributes. To achieve a good status, a series of actions has been already implemented. In the Danube River Basin the first “Danube Basin Analysis Report” of2004 prepared by International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is the starting point. It revealed that there is a gap in our knowledge on sediment and a proper sediment balance (surplus and deficit) cannot be set up. A “Sediment Issue Paper” was prepared in 2006, which emphasized that further investigation of the sediment is needed. The First “Danube River Basin Management Plan” (2009) and the second one (2015), required by the WFD and prepared by ICPDR and the Danube Basin countries, mentions that the sediment transport is among the potential “Significant Water Management Issues”. As this project proposes appropriate measures for improving the sediment management, sets up a sediment balance for the Danube River and furthermore, develops a sediment management guidance, the results directly contribute to the next Danube River Basin Management Plan (2021) and to Action 1 “To implement fully the Danube River Basin Management Plan” and Action 2 “To greatly strengthen cooperation at sub-basin level” of PA4 “To Restore and Maintain the Quality of Waters” of EUSDR. Through contributing to a reduction of flood risks with the project main outputs, the link to the Danube Flood Risk Management Plan and to the EU Floods Directive, Directive 2007/60/EC, and to Action 1 “To develop and adopt one single overarching floods management plan at basin level or a set of flood risk management plans coordinated at the level of the international river basin” of the PA5 “To Manage Environmental Risks” is also ensured. The project is agreed and highly recommended by the ICPDR Flood Protection Expert Group. The mentioned two plans coordinate the transnational river basin management and flood risk management on the Danube Region level thus the project results will have a direct impact on REGIONAL level, too. This horizontal nature of the sediment transport further connects the project to Priority Areas PA la “To improve mobility and intermodality of inland waterways”, PA2 “To encourage more sustainable energy” and PA6 “To preserve biodiversity, landscapes and the quality of air and soils”. The project is closely linked to the EUSDR flagship project DREAM (Danube River Research and Management). The project contributes to NATIONAL level by formulating concrete recommendations for coordinated transnational sediment management both for national and local policy makers and stakeholders.

The project will contribute to an intensified cooperation in transnational water management by improving sediment management. This leads to reduced flood risk, improved navigation conditions, better ecological status and enhanced sustainable hydropower production in the Danube River. The project outputs are not specific to the Danube River, thus with the application of the Danube