Hidrológiai Közlöny, 2016 (96. évfolyam)
2016 / 3. szám - HISTORICAL SNAPSHOT - Ijjas István: Good Practices for Integrated Water Resources Management in EU and Hungary
12 Hungarian Journal of Hydrology Vol. 96. No. 3. 2016. Guiding Principles for the Development of Inland Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Danube River Basin (ICPDR-DC-ISRBS 2007). The Joint Statement provides guiding principles and criteria for the planning and implementation of waterway projects that bring together the conflicting interests of navigation and the environment. The Joint Statement is internationally recognized as a milestone for the development of the inland navigation in the Danube region and an example of similar areas in Europe. For the first time, a common discussion and planning platform was created to address the potential conflict between waterway development and environment protection. The Joint Statement assists in the prevention of conflicts and the creation of integrated solutions. Its application provides planning security for new infrastructure projects. To facilitate manual on sustainable waterway planning to be applied as a reference and practical tool in and ensure the application of the Joint Statement, there was an obvious need to prepare the good practice the Danube and other Integrated Tisza River Basin Management Plan The Tisza River is the longest tributary of the Danube. Its basin is the largest sub-basin of the Danube Basin - 157.186 km2 - and home to 14 million people throughout five countries - from upstream to downstream: Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, Flungary and Serbia. The Tisza countries agreed to prepare an integrated sub-basin management plan (the Integrated Tisza River Basin Management Plan - ITRBM Plan), which integrates issues of water quality and water quantity, land and water management, floods and drought (ICPDR 2009a, ICPDR -UNDP GEF 2011). The draft ITRBM Plan was developed in 2010, submitted to public participation process and the final plan was introduced to the ICPDR Tisza Countries Heads of Delegation in December 2010. The ITRBM Plan accounts for both water quality and water quantity issues, to identify measures which will have positive impacts both on water quality and quantity and on aquatic ecosystems in the Tisza River Basin. The specifics of ITRBM Plan compared to river basin manEuropean river basins by inland waterway planning authorities and interested stakeholders (ICPDR 2010, EC 2012a). Integration of Water Protection and Hydropower Development policy - Good practices for sustainable hydropower planning and operation The “Guiding Principles on Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Danube Basin” (ICPDR 2012, 2013a, 2013b) have been elaborated in the frame of a broad participative process, with the involvement of representatives from administrations (energy and environment), the hydro- power sector, NGOs and the scientific community. A strategic planning approach was recommended by the Guiding Principles for the development of new hydro- power stations (Box 1.). This approach should be based on a two-level assessment, the national/regional assessment followed by the project specific assessment. This approach is in line with the prevention and precautionary principle as well as the polluter pays principle of EU water policy and it could be efficient tool also for planning of reservoirs and other hydraulic structures. agement plans under the WFD that ITRBM Plan introduces the methodology developed for integration of floods and excess water, droughts and water scarcity and climate change. IMPLEMENTATION OF RBM PLANNING ACCORDING TO THE EL WFD IN HUNGARY Hungary has particularly rich and long-lasting experience in water management that always incorporated the most important international trends, scientific and technical outcomes. The EU membership for Hungary however represented a basically new quality in RBM planning and in international relations including water management issues. The EU Member States introduced common principles and regulations to co-ordinate their efforts to improve the protection of waters, to promote the sustainable water use, to contribute to the control of trans-boundary water problems and to protect aquatic ecosystems. RBMPs must be reviewed and updated every 6 years. The review and the update to the RBMPs appropriate public consultation and engagement methods are used. Box 1. Strategic planning approach for new hydropower development 1) The strategic planning approach (linked to the Renewable Energy Action Plan and the River Basin Management Plan) is based on a two-level assessment: the national/regional assessment followed by the project specific assessment. 2) In a first step those river stretches are identified where hydropower development is forbidden by national or regional legis- lation/agreements. In a second step all other stretches will be assessed using the assessment matrix and classification scheme. 3) The national/regional assessment is an instrument for administrations in the process of directing new hydropower stations to those areas where minimum impacts on the environment are expected. This can be achieved by an integration of hydro- power production and ecosystem demands as well as by supporting decision making through clear and transparent criteria, including aspects of energy management as well as environment and landscape aspects. 4) The national/regional assessment is beneficial and provides gains for both, the environment and water sector but also for the hydropower sector by increasing predictability of the decision-making process and making transparent where licences for new projects are likely to be issued. 5) While the assessment on national/regional level is more of general nature, classifying the appropriateness of river stretches for potential hydropower use, the project specific assessment provides a more detailed and in-depth assessment of the benefits and impacts of a concrete project in order to assess whether a project is appropriately tailored to a specific location. The assessment on the project level is carried out in response to an application for issuing the licence for a new hydropower plant and therefore especially depends on the specific project design. Source: ICPDR 2012, 2013a, 2013b ________
