IAWD is excited to join a new and promising regional water project as a Associate Strategic Partner. Launched on July 1st, 2020, funded by the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme, and led by TU Wien, the Danube Hazard m³c project aims to achieve a durable and effective transnational control and reduction of hazardous substance water pollution in the Danube River Basin.

The program builds on a strong partnership of top experts and stakeholders from universities, national authorities, international organizations, interest groups and environmental agencies. IAWD will contribute know how and information platform infrastructure.

According to the EU Water Framework Directive, hazardous substance (HS) pollution is a major water quality issue to be tackled in the Danube River Basin (DRB), including non-EU Member States, which committed to pursue similar goals within the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). Despite a significant risk of failing to achieve such goals, this topic is underrepresented in the current DRB District Management Plan (DRBMP) and national plans, mostly owing to substantial knowledge gaps and to the lack of system understanding as well as institutional capacity regarding hazardous substance emission pathways and effective management options.

Danube Hazard m³c promises improvements in this respect, building on “m³”, measuring, modelling and management, the three elements of water governance, complemented by capacity building.

Specifically, the project aims to improve the knowledge and understanding of the status quo of hazardous substances water pollution in the region by integrating and harmonizing available existing data of HS concentration levels and by modelling emissions at catchment scale in pilot regions.

To bridge critical knowledge gaps and to provide a robust basis for modelling and management, targeted measurement campaigns will be carried out not only in rivers but also in environmental and anthropogenic compartments leading to emissions of HS, such as soils, atmospheric deposition and wastewater treatment plants. A further goal is to enhance the transnational management of HS water pollution, through coordinated prioritization of transnational measures with consideration of territorial needs, pursued through basin-wide emission modelling, assessment of management scenarios and elaboration of recommendations for the Danube River Basin Management Plan, and also through tailor-made training activities and workshops.

Acting as an Associate Strategic Partner in the project, IAWD will contribute capacity building know how and provide the necessary platform for outreach and dissemination of information.

Danube Hazard m³c will run until 31^st December 2022. Voice of the Danube News will cover all important milestones of the project, but for ongoing in-depth information, please join the project's mailing list here.