Water Quality Management and Legislation in Hungary - A River Basin Approach

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 81-86
Author(s):  
Sándor Kisgyörgy ◽  
György Botond ◽  
John M. Tyson
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
European Union ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Full Member ◽  
Institutional Economic

The project summarised in this paper was aimed at developing water quality legislation in Hungary and funded through the PHARE programme of the European Union. Hungary, in common with the other former Eastern European countries, is in a period of transition as it moves from a state socialist system to a free market economy and a full member of the European Union. The project sought to explore the means whereby water quality could be managed on a river basin basis and the legislative, institutional, economic and regulatory challenges resolved. A key element of the project was the carrying out of five case studies, on different catchments, to evaluate the various approaches. An important element of these studies was the participation of all interested parties in the individual catchments. The project showed that to move to a full system of integrated river basin management would be a step too far at this stage and, instead, recommended a system of Catchment Planning Commissions, accountable to Central Government, for the development of catchment based water quality objectives and plans for their achievement together with the monitoring and reporting of progress on implementation. The concomitant legal requirements were detailed and the need for public participation emphasised.

scholarly journals Priorities and Preferences in Water Quality Management - a Case Study of the Alsterån River Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-173
Author(s):  
Kristina Ek ◽  
Lars Persson
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Quality Attributes ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
The European Union

AbstractSweden is a decentralised country where local managers, who are key actors in water management, often deal with relatively difficult prioritisations, tradeoffs and conflicting goals. Many of these challenges relate to the effective implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive. As an input to these challenges, the present paper elicits and analyses local and semi-local citizens’ preferences for water quality attributes related to the European Water Framework directive in a river basin located in southeast of Sweden. Based on a choice experiment tailored to the case study area, the paper analyses preferences for selected attributes based on real criteria for ecological water status in the implementation of the directive. The target population lives in the municipalities through which the river passes, or in municipalities neighbouring those. Despite this spatial proximity to the river, the analysis reveals limited knowledge and interest in matters related to the environmental quality of the river. There is no evidence that preferences differ between respondents with regard to experience or knowledge about the water basin, nor with regard to recreational habits in the area. These results offer input to local water management by providing information about preferences for explicit water quality attributes.

Water Quality Management in Sakarya River Basin: I. Planning Phase

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (5-7) ◽  
pp. 435-441
Author(s):  
I Ethem Gönenç ◽  
Derin Orhon ◽  
Reha Artan
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Model Development ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Sakarya River ◽  
Management Project

This article deals with the planning of water quality management studies of the “Sakarya River Basin Management Project” which was submitted to NATO Science Committee for support through the Science for Stability Program. The background and justification of the project are described and then the objectives are presented by phases. The activities that have already been carried out in the planning and the feasibility phases are discussed. A detailed account is given of the procedure for mathematical model development and application, and the methodology for monitoring system design.

scholarly journals An integrated approach to water protection and management: the European Union model

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Adshead
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Member States ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Integrated River Basin Management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive. It seeks first to determine whether its provisions align with modern thinking on integrated river basin management and second to assess the degree to which it has the potential to achieve legislative and inter‐agency integration throughout the Union.Design/methodology/approachThis is a desktop study. The paper draws upon theories and definitions of integrated river basin management and internal integration in existing literature and then proceeds to examine the provisions of the Water Framework Directive in the light of the models identified.FindingsThe framework for river basin management in the Water Framework Directive does not fully match the modern approach to integrated river basin management. The directive is limited by its primary focus upon the single medium of water, and its consequent failure to fully address wider land use planning issues. It, therefore, also fails to achieve integration between all relevant legislative instruments. It provides a framework for stakeholder involvement that could potentially serve the goal of inter‐agency integration. However, due to the high level of discretion in the hands of member states, there is likely to be a substantial divergence of practice across the EU.Originality/valueIn assessing the Water Framework Directive against modern notions of river basin management and the directive's stated integrative aspirations, the paper informs implementation and practice in member states.

Role of non-point sources in the development of a water quality management plan for the Mgeni River catchment

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 175-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. C. Pegram ◽  
A. J. Bath
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Point Source ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Source Area ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Source Areas ◽  
Basin Scale

Integrated river basin management depends upon information about existing and potential water quality problems. In the Mgeni River basin, the major water quality problems are sediment, nutrient and bacterial with at least 85 percent of the total contamination derived from non-point sources. This paper shows that it is of paramount importance that the development of management objectives and approaches be based on the understanding, quantification and interpretation of the seasonal and spatial variation in export from non-point source areas. Management and analysis requires the grouping of all non-point source areas into diffuse, concentrated and incident sources, with the emphasis on the source area and pollutant delivery rather than the water quality response. Traditionally monitored data is not sufficient for detailed interpretation of non-point source pollution. Comments are made regarding the problems associated with obtaining representative loading data for non-point sources. The choice of appropriate analysis techniques, which assist in the interpretation of the available data, is based upon an assessment of the information requirements for management, the conditions and the water quality problems in the study catchment. GIS-based basin scale and individual source area maps of pollution potential and export are used to support the time-series of catchment export. These techniques will be incorporated into the management information system (MIS).

Setting the threshold: An analysis of different approaches for the definition of exemptions to water quality objectives in the European Union

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Bolinches ◽  
Lucia De Stefano ◽  
Javier Paredes-Arquiola ◽  
Carlotta Valerio ◽  
Alberto Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
European Union ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
Member States ◽  
Environmental Objectives

<p>Continental water ecosystems and human water uses may be jeopardized by degradation of water quality.  To prevent this degradation, the maximum concentration of pollutants for freshwater bodies may need to be set in the legislation. In some cases, the actions needed to achieve those environmental objectives may be technically challenging or financially overburdening. In the case of the European Union (EU), the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Article 4) requires the achievement of the good status of water bodies but allows for the declaration of exemptions due to lack of technical feasibility or disproportionate costs. Twenty years after the WFD approval, the conditions to declare exemptions remain unclear and in practice their declaration  is highly discretional.</p><p>The extant scientific literature suggests several methods to formulate the justification of exemptions. Although the methodologies are diverse, they all require to select a threshold (e.g. in terms of cost disproportionality) above which a relaxation of the environmental objectives may be accepted. This threshold should be uniform across the EU River Basin Districts in order to guarantee a fair distribution of efforts across Member States. To date, however, there are very few studies that compare the application of exemptions in different regions to assess the uniformity of approaches to the declaration of exceptions.</p><p>When defining actions to achieve the good status of water bodies, the quantification of the different pressures, their interactions and the effects on receiving water bodies can be challenging. In the case of physico-chemical pollutants, however, it can be easier to define policy actions as pressures can be quantified (point loads of wastewater treatment plants, diffuse loads emanated by different land uses) and the evolution in receiving waters can be modelled.</p><p>In our research, we analyzed over one thousand water bodies in the River Basin Districts of five different Member States of the European Union (Estonia, a transboundary Ireland-United Kingdom basin, Italy, Spain and Portugal), using the available databases on Digital Elevation Models (Copernicus EU-DEM), land use (CORINE land cover), urban pressures (European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive dissemination platform and reported data), runoff and gauged flows (Water Information System for Europe, national gauging networks) and WFD exemption databases. Each water body was characterized according to the level of nitrogen and phosphorus pressures deriving from point and diffuse loads, and the declaration of exemptions to the environmental objectives for those nutrients. The exemption threshold is assessed for each River Basin District, allowing for a critical review of the different water policies in this significant aspect of the Water Framework Directive implementation.</p>

River Basin Water Quality Management in Japan – An Overview

1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Murakami
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Basin Water ◽  
Rapid Industrialization ◽  
Control Water

Due to rapid industrialization and the concentration of the population shifting towards large cities starting from the 1950s, Japan experienced severe water pollution problems throughout the country. In order to cope with these problems, the legal system has been refined and various measures to control water pollution have been taken. This paper summarizes the current institutional structure, legal system, as well as plans and programs, for water pollution control and river basin management in Japan.

Habitat Elements in River Basin Management and Planning

1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin E. Herricks ◽  
Maria I. Braga
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Habitat ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Habitat Analysis ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Habitat Simulation ◽  
Flow Quantity

Comprehensive river basin management mast move beyond narrowly focused programs dealing with water quantity or water quality. A more comprehensive approach to river basin management recognizes that both flow quantity and water quality can be summarized as habitat measures. A number of well developed physical habitat analysis and prediction procedures are presently available. Several computerized systems available from the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service (Habitat Suitability Index - HSI and PHysical HABitat SIMulation - PHABSIM) provide macrohabitat definition. We have developed a water quality based habitat component which operates effectively for general analysis. With an emphasis on site specific management in the United States, the macrohabitat definition procedures may not meet all river basin management and planning requirements. This paper reviews the results of research which characterizes microhabitat in streams and rivers and provides a valuable extension to basin management procedures.

Innovative Tools for Water Quality Management and Policy Analysis: Desert and Streamplan

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
Carlo De Marchi ◽  
Pavel Ivanov ◽  
Ari Jolma ◽  
Ilia Masliev ◽  
Mark Griffin Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Water Quality Modeling ◽  
Detailed Model ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Alternative Water

This paper presents the major features of two decision support systems (DSS) for river water quality modeling and policy analysis recently developed at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), DESERT and STREAMPLAN. DESERT integrates in a single package data management, model calibration, simulation, optimization and presentation of results. DESERT has the flexibility to allow the specification of both alternative water quality models and flow hydraulics for different branches of the same river basin. Specification of these models can be done interactively through Microsoft® Windows commands and menus and an easy to use interpreted language. Detailed analysis of the effects of parameter uncertainty on water quality results is integrated into DESERT. STREAMPLAN, on the other hand, is an integrated, easy-to-use software system for analyzing alternative water quality management policies on a river basin level. These policies include uniform emission reduction and effluent standard based strategies, ambient water quality and least-cost strategies, total emission reduction under minimized costs, mixed strategies, local and regional policies, and strategies with economic instruments. A distinctive feature of STREAMPLAN is the integration of a detailed model of municipal wastewater generation with a water quality model and policy analysis tools on a river basin scale.

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