Problems of hydrological monitoring in transboundary rivers of Eastern Europe (on the example of the Western Dvina

Abstract

Transboundary rivers are the connecting threads of different states. Hydrological monitoring and water quality control may vary significantly in different countries and leads to difficulties in solving various water management tasks. Trans-border areas require the resolution of a number of special issues, often in the field of interstate relations. This article presents the results of the analysis of hydrological processes monitoring organization in transboundary river basins of Russia and Eastern Europe. The assessment of typical monitoring problems on the example of the Western Dvina river basin under the circumstances of changing population of the territory and legislative framework governing water management is given. From the analysis of the official information sources and field observations, the structure of hydrological observations in the Western Dvina basin in Russia, Belarus and countries of the European Union is compared with their changes over time. Information on the number and density of the monitoring network stations is given, existing standards and documents regulating the procedure of observations, the composition of the measured parameters, the quality of measurements and the availability of monitoring data are compared. The analysis of methods of network observations of suspended sediments in the Western Dvina basin was carried out. The uncertainty of measurements of the concentration of suspended sediments at the outlet in the Russian part of the Western Dvina basin, caused by the existing methods and, thus, typical for determining this parameter on the observation network in the Russian Federation, is revealed. It is shown that differences and uncertainties in the collection and processing of hydrological information in different countries are a key difficulty in organizing monitoring, both at the international and at the state level.