site.btaProject Aimed to Improve Danube Navigation and Minimize Flood Hazard

Project Aimed to Improve Danube Navigation and Minimize Flood Hazard

Sofia, February 24 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River (EAEMD), in cooperation with organizations in eight other countries, has launched a 3.6 million euro project for water and sediment management and morphological studies on Europe's second-longest river. The Danube Sediment Project is being financed under the Danube Transnational Programme 2014-2020 and is aimed at preventing floods in the Danubian countries, the EAEMD said on February 23.

The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River has admitted that the sediment carried by the river is not managed properly. Better and more sustainable sediment management means better conditions for navigation, a lower flood hazard, improved environmental conditions, and sustainable operation of hydroelectric power plants.

The participants in the project will collect additional data about the type, nature and movement of sediment. In order to fill the knowledge gap in this field, the information will be analyzed and summarized in a future handbook of good practice in monitoring sediment transport.

The Danube Sediment Project is a groundbreaking endeavour in studying sediment transport in the river. The partner countries are Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. The project will be implemented until June 2019.