This chapter presents the main hydrological projects in the region:
- “Danube Flood risk” project that is focused on flood risk reduction, risk assessment, risk mapping, and risk reduction in the lower Danube river area,
- MORFDD project that models hydro-morphologic changes and the ways these affect the water quality and implicitly the biodiversity within Danube Delta wetlands,
- NaturNet-Redime project to support sustainable development via Qualitative reasoning (QR) model web tools aiming to contribute to the implementation of the EU Strategy on Sustainable Development,
- FORECASTER project (Facilitating the application of Output from REsearch and CAse STudies on Ecological Responses to hydro-morphological degradation and rehabilitation),
- SCENES project 'Water Scenarios for Europe and for Neighbouring States aiming to develop and analyze a set of comprehensive scenarios of Europe’s freshwater futures up to 2025,
- other two building database projects first one aiming to Build Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Hydrology databases and the second one Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve water chemistry database and the DANUBS project (Nutrient Management in the Danube Basin and its Impact on the Black Sea).
3.1 Danube Flood risk project
The Danube River is one of the most important natural axes in South-East-Europe.
It links most of the countries in the SEE area. Thus the improvement and good examples of transnational cooperation of all countries will be a brilliant signal for the whole region.
This project has a far reaching strategic focus beyond risk management and could become a flagship project for the SEE programme. It will improve safer sustainable conditions for living environment and economy in the Danube floodplains. It integrates stakeholders and different acting groups and disciplines.
Flood risk increases with ongoing climate change. Risk reduction in large international river basins can only be achieved through transnational, interdisciplinary and stakeholder oriented approaches within the framework of a joint transnational project.
Practice has shown that starting this kind of cooperation is extremely difficult, due to practical, political and financial reasons. If incentives exist like the transnational cooperation programme, the start up can be successful. The long term process will be self-running after the starting phase.
The Danube Flood risk project focuses on the most cost-effective measures for flood risk reduction: risk assessment, risk mapping, involvement of stakeholders and risk reduction by adequate spatial planning.
The project will bring together scientists, public servants, NGOs and stakeholders who develop jointly a scalable system of flood risk maps for the Danube River floodplains.
Transnational methodology and models will be defined and implemented for flood risk assessment and mapping. This results in proposals for flood mitigation measures, adjustments of spatial development plans, assessment tools for economic development in flood plains and raised awareness of flood risk of stakeholders, politicians, planners and the public. Infrastructures at risk like industry, power stations and supply infrastructure will be considered in the project.
The main data sources for flood risk maps are digital terrain data, land use information, hydraulic data and for the damage assessment also statistics. Especially linear structures need to be considered as they have high impacts on the simulation.
3.2. MORFDD project
This project is funded by the Romanian Education and Research Ministry in the framework of the National Plan of Research, Development, and Innovation and is running within 2007-2010. Danube Delta National Institute for research and Development, Tulcea, Romania, is this project’s coordinator.
The MORFDD project develops a model to investigate the environment factors, mainly of water regime as result of hydro-morphologic changes and the ways these affect the water quality and implicitly, the biodiversity within wetlands. The project purpose is to create a scientific knowledge base of an environment system functioning mode. It helps
to scientifically justify the decisions made on protection and ecological reconstruction of wetlands and preservation of protected areas. MORFDD model is constructed using as Delft3D hydraulic program specialized in numerical modeling of hydro-morphology changes and water quality. Inputs are geospatial data.
Thus, all field measurements and data processing are carried out using equipments and computational techniques of high performance compatible with GIS. The project case study is the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR) aquatic ecosystem. DDBR is one of the main components within the Danube River-Danube Delta-Black Sea geo-ecosystem. It is formed by the Danube Delta territory, the Razim-Sinoie lake complex and the north-western coastal zone of Black Sea up to the isobaths of 20 m depth. For this type of system, the management issues are related to rehabilitation/improvement of ecological factors through a sustainable management of wetland hydrographic network.
The main objective is to improve the hydrologic regime – premise for life conditions for establishing an ecological equilibrium which ensures protection and preservation for biological diversity.
3.3. NaturNet-Redime project
This is a FP6 project funded by the European Commission for Research and Development. The general objective of NaturNet-Redime2 is to support sustainable development by improving knowledge about all aspects of sustainability and provide education mainly about social, economic and environmental tools for the implementation of the EU Strategy on Sustainable Development at both EU and international levels.
There are two main approaches of the NaturNet-Redime project. The first is the NaturNet - Redime portal which focuses on innovative presentation of different tools and data sources for learning about sustainability. The second is learning through modeling where learners develop deep understanding of causes and effects by developing their own models of particular systems - using Qualitative Reasoning (QR). In the framework of this project, the Redime part deals with Qualitative Reasoning (QR) model.
The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem components were qualitatively modeled, using QR software, from their physical, chemical and biological behavior point of view. Components and their causal relationships were used to construct the model structure. They include the water chemistry / pollution elements, flora and fauna species relationship (in the framework of the Functional Feeding Groups) up to the human beings health, in the context of a low /medium / high water pollution level.
3.4 FORECASTER project
The Forecaster project (Facilitating the application of Output from REsearch and CAse STudies on Ecological Responses to hydro-morphological degradation and rehabilitation) is a EU project funded by the IWRM-Net. The project aims at linking
2 http://www.naturnet.org/
science with practical implementation of robust, cost efficient rehabilitation strategies for improving rivers and standing waters. The main objective of the project is assessing research outputs (both national, European and North American) and case studies concerning the ecological effects of hydro-morphological degradation, in order to position hydro-morphology in river rehabilitation strategies.
The focus is on rivers and fish, but invertebrates and lakes are also considered.
Mechanism for achieving good ecological potential in heavily modified and artificial water bodies is included, an aspect that has yet to be realized widely across Europe. A common website using Google maps and Wiki type information on the implemented restoration projects in the partner countries was set up (www.hull.ac.uk/comp). Romanian case studies are in Babina, Cernovca, Holbina-Dunavat, Fortuna, and Popina. The access is open to public including new case studies, but the data base can be change by partners only.
3.5 SCENES project
The SCENES project 'Water Scenarios for Europe and for Neighboring States”
('http://www.environment.fi) aims at developing and analyzing a set of comprehensive scenarios of Europe’s freshwater futures up to 2025. The project covers four different geopolitical settings which will have an important effect on water availability and use of these regions in the future: Baltic, Mediterranean, Lower Danube and Black Sea. There are 10 Pilot areas: Lake Peipsi, Narew, Lower Don, Crimea, Danube Delta, Tisza, Candeliaro, Garonne, Guadianna, Seyhan. The Scenes scenarios will provide a reference point for long-term strategic planning of European water resource development, alert policymakers and stakeholders about emerging problems, allow river basin managers to test regional and local water plans against uncertainties and surprises. The water quality modeling of Scenes scenarios for pan-Europe is using point source loadings for domestic, industrial and urban runoff - Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). The main drivers for the scenario analysis of point loads are "connectivity to sewage networks" and the "level of treatment", also changes in population, GDP and emission factors (currently only for phosphorus) play a role. In SCENES a continental-scale model of surface water quality (WorldQual) is currently being developed. The aim is to have a system to predict water quality in river and lakes across pan-Europe for the 2025s and 2050s which is consistent with SCENES scenarios. The starting point was to construct the model for baseline conditions, in year 2000.
3.6 Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Hydrology databases
The hydrological database for long study interval contains data for a number of 68 hydrology measurement points / hydrometric stations (Figure1), as follows:
- water level;
- currents;
- water depth;
- cross-section area;
- water discharge;
- suspended solid discharge;
- water turbulence;
- bottom sediment;
- sand /mud sediment fractions /percentage.
Figure 1 - Hydrometric stations for hydrology regime study within the DDBR hydrographic network.
The above database is managed by the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management, Bucharest, Romania, and National Institute of Research and Development for Geology and Geoecology (Bucharest, Romania) as partners in MORFDD project3.
Bathymetric and topo-hydrographic data: bottom elevation data of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve hydrographic network (channels /canals / lakes /western Black Sea coastal zone is managed by the Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development (Tulcea, Romania) as coordinator of the MORFDD project.
3 http://www.indd.tim.ro/morfdd
3.7 Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve water chemistry database
Since 1996, with a monthly frequency, the DDBR aquatic ecosystems water chemistry study is carried out for Danube River, Danube’s arms, canals and lakes they connect in a number of 25 sampling points. The 25 sampling points for water quality study are located as shown in Figure2.
Figure 2 - Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve area – sampling points for water and sediment chemistry study
Database for water quality as collected between 1997-2010 contains the following quality characteristic indicators:
1. For channels /canals network:
- Chemical and physical-chemical indicators: water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, oxygen chemical consumption;
- [CCO-Mn], salts, nutrients (N-NH4, N-NO2, N-NO3, Ntotal, P-PO4, Ptotal);
- Water pollution indicator: Heavy metals: Fe, Cd, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb, Ni.;
- Physical indicators: solid suspensions;
- Eutrophication indicators: Ntotal si Ptotal.
2. For lakes:
- Chemical and physical-chemical indicators: water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, oxygen chemical consumption, [CCO-Mn], salts, nutrients (NH4, N-NO2, N-NO3, Ntotal, P-PO4, Ptotal), and Chlorophyll “a”;
- Water pollution indicator: Heavy metals: Fe, Cd, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb, Ni.;
- Physical indicators: solid suspensions;
- Eutrophication indicators: Ntotal si Ptotal ;
3. For Western Black Sea coastal waters: water salinity and pH.
3.8 DANUBS project
The DANUBS project is investigating the nutrient balance in the Danube river catchment with main emphasis on diffuse pollution (e.g. agriculture, air pollution), the transport, retention and losses of nutrients in the catchment (nutrient balances in case study regions) and silica along the Danube River and the functioning of the Western Black Sea ecosystem concerning the direct influence of riverine nutrient and silica discharges.
The mathematical models used in the DANUBS project are MONERIS-emission model; Danube Water Quality Model (DWQM) for the description of the transport and transformation processes in the river system, Danube Delta Model (DDM) for the quantification of nutrient transport in the Danube Delta and Shelf Model for modeling the impact of the Danube load on the Western Black Sea. Based on these models the whole system can be considered as a complex unit and scenarios can be developed as a basis for scenario evaluation.