Tag Archives: tributaries

First dead fish seen in Danube

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AFP

Budapest – The first dead fish have been sighted in Europe’s second-longest river, the Danube, following a spill of toxic mud in Hungary, a regional chief for the disaster relief services told AFP on Thursday.

“I can confirm that we have seen sporadic losses of fish in the main branch of the Danube,” Tibor Dobson said.

“The fish have been sighted at the confluence of the Raba with the Danube,” where water samples had shown a pH value of 9.1, he said.

“Fish cannot survive at pH 9.1,” the official added.

Water alkalinity is a measure of river contamination, and on a scale of 1-14, pH values of 1-6 are acid, 6-8 is neutral, and readings of 8-14 are alkaline.

“In order to save the river’s ecosystem, the pH level must be brought down to below 8,” Dobson said.

When the spill first occurred on Monday afternoon, readings of 13.5 were taken in the nearby Torna river.

The tiny Torna stream flows into the Marcal, which is a tributary of the Raba, which in turn flows into the Danube.

Readings earlier on Thursday showed pH levels of around 10 in the Torna.

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Flooding in northern Bulgaria feared as Danube River levels rise

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The Sofia Echo

The water levels of the Danube River were constantly rising and there were fears that the heavy rainfalls combined with the bulging tributaries would cause floods in the coming days, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on June 3 2010.

In the last 24 hours, the water has risen by 68cm in the northwest Bulgarian town of Vidin, reaching 770 cm, which has prompted the Civil Protection Service in the region to go on full alert.

Local authorities in Vidin called for an emergency meeting to assess the situation, while authorities downriver in Pleven have also issued a warning and are preparing for potential flooding.

Reportedly, a “high wave” was on its way to Bulgaria, which was expected to arrive in “several days”, BNT said. Consequently, the water levels of the Danube along Bulgarian shores might reach as high as nine metres. Starting June 4, the “crisis task force” and the Civil Protection Service would start erecting levies.

The expectations for the water levels by the end of June 3, according to Dnevnik daily, were for the water levels to rise by further 1.5 metres in Vidin and another one metre near Lom.

For the moment, the levels of Danube near the northeastern riverside town of Rousse remain unchanged at 608cm, but it is expected that the water will rise by some 70cm, which is not considered a problem for Rousse as the banks are relatively high, Dnevnik said. Rousee will be in trouble however should the water exceed eight metres.

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Danube cleanup plan adopted by 14 nations

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AP

VIENNA — Fourteen countries and the European Commission have adopted a cleanup plan for the Danube River and its tributaries.

The Danube flows 2,857 kilometers (1,775 miles) from southern Germany’s Black Forest to the Black Sea and is polluted in some parts. Some 83 million people in 19 countries live in its basin.

The Danube River Basin Management Plan adopted Tuesday aims, among other things, to reduce organic and nutrient pollution from settlements and agriculture. It also includes measures to protect and reconnect wetlands.

Participating countries are Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

The plan calls for the cleanup measures to be in place by 2015.

On the Net: International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River: http://www.icpdr.org/

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