site.btaWorld's Most Comprehensive Surface-Water Monitoring Project Begins along Danube River

The Joint Danube Survey 5 (JDS5), the world's most comprehensive investigative surface-water monitoring project, officially kicked off on July 1, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water said in a press release Wednesday. The survey is conducted once very six years, building upon the previous editions and uniting the efforts of experts from along the Danube and beyond as Europe's second longest river. 

In order to collect up-to-date information on the water quality in the Bulgarian section of the river, in line with the objectives of the JDS5 , the expertise of several institutions has been brought together in Bulgaria: the Regional Laboratories of the Executive Environment Agency in Montana, Pleven, Ruse and Veliko Tarnovo; scientists from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; scientists from the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv; and experts from the Danube Region Water Basin Directorate. Coordination at national level is carried out by the Executive Environment Agency. 

The results of the JDS5 will feed directly into the update of the Danube River Basin Management Plan in 2027, supporting environmental policy decisions at both national and regional level.

The key purpose of Joint Danube Surveys is to produce reliable and comparable information on carefully selected elements of water quality along the entire length of the Danube River and its major tributaries. JDS also helps to harmonize water monitoring practices and procedures in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive through close coordination and further training.

The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is a transnational body, which has been established to implement the Danube River Protection Convention. The ICPDR works to ensure the sustainable and equitable use of waters in the Danube River Basin.

Bulgaria has been an ICPDR member since its establishment and is proud that the Danube River Protection Convention was signed in Sofia on June 29, 1994, recalls Deputy Environment and Water Minister Atanas Kostadinov, who represents Bulgaria at the ICPDR. "The Danube crosses 14 countries, its basin covers an area of 817,000 sq km, thus connecting tens of millions of people and uniting various languages, cultures, and histories. We particularly value the JDS5's contribution to experience and knowledge exchange with the other Danube countries," he said, as quoted in the press release.