Nutrient Management in the Danube River Basin

Abstract

The EU Water Framework Directive requires that EU Member States implement the necessary measures within their river basin districts to achieve good status of water bodies by 2015. Nutrient pollution is a priority challenge in the Danube River Basin District, interlinking the freshwater with the marine environment – approximately 65% of the Danube River length was categorised as being at risk due to nutrient pollution. Eutrophication is of major concern in the Danube Region and especially in the receiving Western Black Sea. The ecological situation in the Black Sea has improved considerably in the last decade (reduced eutrophication, disappearance of anoxic conditions, regeneration of zoo-benthos and phytoplankton); however, the improvement was only partly due to the effect of measures like nutrient removal at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) or the ban of P-containing laundry detergents, as it was also to a considerable part due to the economic crises in Danube countries. The nutrient loads are thus still well above the levels of the 1960s; current evidence shows the need to develop newer solutions and to prepare nutrient management strategies to effectively reduce nutrients in the Danube River systems. The assessment of measures related to farming practices and land use management undertaken until end of 2012 provided information on declining trends of nitrogen surplus in all member states in the DRB. The measures related to farming practices and land use management consist most commonly of technical measures to reduce negative impacts caused by agriculture, such as input reduction measures, measures addressing diffuse pollution concerning both fertiliser and pesticide use, livestock farming-oriented measures focusing on the reduction of impacts from animal rearing, the use of manure as a fertiliser, changes in crop production practices as well as improving drainage systems.