official bulletin of the ISRBC � ENG

www.sa

vaco

mmission

.org

Legal analysis of significance of the protocols to the FASRB

Celebration of the Sava Day

Water Pollution Management in the Sava River Basin

Importance of dialogue among river commissions

SAVANewsFlashofficial bulletin of the ISRBC no2/november2008

SAVANewsFlash 2 ENG

I. Preface /page 3

II. SAVA COMMISSION Celebration of the Sava Day / page 4-5

III. STRATEGY A road toward the FASRB objectives / page 6

IV. ANNOUNCEMENT Toward the 2nd Meeting of the Parties to the FASRB / page 7

V. FASRB Legal analysis of significance of the protocols to the FASRB / page 8-9

VI. NAVIGATION Rehabilitation and Development of Transport on the Sava River / page 10-11

VII. INFRASTRUCTURE River Information Services / page 12

VIII. COOPERATION Different stakeholders at table / page 13

IX. COOPERATION Importance of dialogue among river com-missions / page 14 X. COOPERATION Water Policy in Republic of Croatia / page 15

XI. SAFETY Water Pollution Management in the Sava River Basin / page 16

official bulletin of the ISRBC � ENG

I am honoured and pleased, as the new chairman of the Sava Commission, to par-ticipate in presentation of the 2nd issue of the SAVA NewsFlash. As You are probably fa-miliar with, by the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin, according to which the Sava Commission was established, the Republic of Croatia and city of Zagreb are, as agreed, determined for the seat of the Sava Commission and, I am glad to state that the Sava Commission is successfully working in Zagreb as of June 27th 2005.

It’s been three years since Bosnia and Herzegovina presided over the Sava Com-mission, and now the chairmanship is taken over by Croatia. I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to ex-press thanks to my colleague Mr. Kemal Karkin for the successful management of the Sava Commission in the past period.

Republic of Croatia devotes high attention to development of inland navigation and sustainable water use, which is reflected in the development strategies adopted by the Croatia Parliament, as well as the Action Plan implemented by the Ministry of sea, transport and infrastructure in coopera-tion with Croatian Waters and other com-petent authorities. Thus the Croatia abso-lutely supported conclusion of the FASRB and establishment of the Sava Commission, and, by active involvement in its work, we endeavour to contribute to successful achievement of goals of the FASRB. When acceding to the FASRB, Republic of Croatia noted the significance of long-term

results for all riparian countries, since the Sava River is part of the Danube Ba-sin, and consequently the international navigation regime, established multilat-eral instruments of international water law, international navigation law, interna-tional law related to environmental pro-tection, and regulation of the European Union applying to the water resources of the Danube river, are also appropriately implemented to the Sava River Basin.

We are especially aware of the fact that river traffic and inland waterways present important European traffic, and there-with the economic resource, and there’s obvious need for more intensive use of inland waterways and railways in trans-port of goods in comparison to transport of goods on road traffic. River traffic, be-side the railway and maritime traffic, is, in ecological context, the most accept-able type of traffic, so its development is stimulated through different EU programs, and institutions for regional cooperation.

Republic of Croatia has recognized the great potential in development of river traffic on the Sava River as a possible generator of economic, social and demographic prosper-ity of the region, for which it’s necessary to ensure complete incorporation of the Sava River into the European system of in-land waterways as soon as possible. In our wish to rehabilitate navigation on the Sava River, we shouldn’t forget the impact as-sessment of the traffic to environment. In inland navigation sector, the prevailing is

the concept of integrated approach to this issue, and pursuant to the EU Water Frame-work Directive, inland waterways become a part of the integrated water management plan for purpose of preservation of their biodiversity and ecological value. The Sava Commission through the FASRB is actively enforcing these principles. Commencing with the ecosystem approach in development planning, the FASRB in-cludes integrated water resources manage-ment in the basin, use of waterway and water protection, hence it is necessary that the Parties to the FASRB and, at the same time, member-countries of the Sava Com-mission make their best to realize the goals of the FASRB. And conclusively, I would like to empha-size our common commitment to successful work of the Sava Commission in implemen-tation of the FASRB and future progress in realization of its goals.

Hopefully, dear readers, our SAVA News-Flash will become Your indispensable source of information, which will enable the brief insight into the work and activities of the Sava Commission, and, thereby, also with our vision of future progress and develop-ment in this area.

Pleasant reading!

IMPRESSUM

Publisher: ISRBC – International Sava River Basin Commission, Zagreb (Croatia), Nova ves 11, Tel/Fax + 385 1 488 6960, 488 6986, isrbc@savacommission.org; Editor: Ljiljana Pandžić; Design: Mikulić Project Ltd.

Sava NewsFlash is the official bulletin of the In-ternational Sava River Basin Commission, pub-lished twice per annum as a bilingual edition – in English and the chosen official language of the Sava Commission for each edition. It is aimed to present the review of most significant activities, projects and achievements of the Sava Commis-sion in the FASRB-related area, provide useful in-

formation and enable a better communication of relevant stakeholders, as well as the wider pub-lic, with the Sava Commission, and, thereby, pro-mote the value and potentials of the Sava River.

* Sava NewsFlash is available on the website of the ISRBC at www.savacommission.org

Dear readers,

Branko Bačić, Chairman of the Sava Commission

Branko Bačić Chairman of the Sava CommissionState Secretary Ministry of sea, transport and infrastructure of Republic of Croatia

SAVANewsFlash 4 ENG

Let’s promote the Sava River

SAVA COMMISSION Celebration of the Sava Day

In this light, the Sava Commission, jointly with the ministries responsible for imple-mentation of the FASRB, organized a number of activities with aim to promote the Sava River and its high significance for the ba-sin countries. Withal, this was the first ever celebration of the Sava Day, and it was kindly supported by the Coca Cola Bever-ages Company from Republic of Croatia and Republic of Serbia and the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE). The Sava Day 2008 celebration commenced

with the Eco-Camp for the Youth, which was held in Nature Park „Lonjsko polje“ in Krapje village (Croatia) on May 30-31st 2008. The Nature Park “Lonjsko polje” is one of the most important floodplains in the Sava River Basin with significant natu-ral and cultural value. The participants of the eco-camp were the youth from all Par-ties of the FASRB, e.g. B&H represented by Secondary Medicine School from Tuzla and Secondary Technical School from Gradiška, Croatia represented by Secondary School Tina Ujevića and Technical Secondary School

Kutina, Serbia represented by Mitrovica Grammar School and Slovenia represented by Brežice Grammar School and Secondary School Centre Krško-Sevnica. On the first part of the workshop, the four Ramsar sites in Sava River Basin, namely Cerknica Lake (Slo), Lonjsko polje (Cro), Bardača (B&H) and Obedska bara (Ser) were presented. After the initial part of the workshop, one group of pupils participated in the research workshop and the other group in the crea-tive. Activities within the framework of the Re-

First Meeting of the Parties to the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin (FASRB), held on June 1st 2007 in Zagreb (Croatia), officially de-clared the June 1st as the Sava Day.

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search Workshop involved the water sam-pling and analysis, which was conducted by the representatives of the “Croatian Wa-ters” (“Hrvatske vode”). Sampling included:1. Realization of the field protocol 2. Collection of samples for physico-chemi-cal analysis (phytobentos, makrozooben-tos): • Measurement of basic physico-chemical indicators in the field • Sorting, determination and counting the living macro-invertebrates in the field • Storing and fixing of biological samples for laboratory analysis. Analysis included:1. Simple chemical analyses 2. Biological analyses of fixed samples - mi-crobentos, macrozoobentos. After the research activities, a map of sam-pling and analysis results and a report on the research work were prepared.

In the frame of creative workshop, the pu-pils improvised performance on the basis of fictive ecological accident. They expressed their emotions and reflections of the nature and water and water eco-system protection on drawings, for which they could choose different techniques of fine art like ink, color matters, dry pastels, pencil etc.

Alongside with the Eco-Camp for the Youth, on May 31st 2008 in Brežice (Slovenia) start-ed the rafting on the Sava River, which ended on June 1st 2008 in Sisak (Croatia) wherefrom the navigation on the Sava Riv-er started. For that occasion, on June 1st 2008 in morning hours the Sava Commission in cooperation with representatives of the

Port Office Sisak, Sisak municipality and sisačko-moslovačka County, Ministry of sea, transport and infrastructure and Ministry of regional development, forestry and water management of Republic of Croatia organ-ized the respective program. First day of navigation was on the section Sisak (Cro) to Gradiška (B&H), where the welcome program was jointly organized with repre-sentatives of the Gradiška Municipality and Water Management Company “Sava” from Gradiška.

On June 2nd the navigation continued on section from Gradiška (B&H) to Slavonski Brod (Cro), where the welcome meeting was hosted by mayor. Further on, the navi-gation proceeded on June 3rd from Slavonski Brod (Cro) to Brčko (B&H), where the brief program hosted by the District Brčko Gov-ernment and respective authorities was or-ganized. Day after, June 4th, the navigation continued on section Brčko (B&H) – Šabac (Ser), where the welcome program was or-ganized in SLOBODNA ZONA Šabac. The 5th day of navigation proceeded on the section from Šabac (Ser) to Belgrade (Ser), dur-ing which the X Special Session of the Sava Commission, attended by representatives of the Sava Commission, its Secretariat, ministries responsible for implementation of the FASRB, other institutions and organi-zations, and media, was held on board of the vessel. In the afternoon hours, in Bel-grade, the Sava Commission and Ministry of environmental protection of the Repub-lic of Serbia jointly organized the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation and coordination between the International Sava River Basin Commission

(Sava Commission) and International Com-mission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR).

The first promotional five-day navigation on the Sava River under activities of the Sava Day 2008 celebration gathered rep-resentatives of the authorities responsible for implementation of the FASRB and other respective ministries, institutions, local authorities, counties, ports’ offices, wa-ter-management-related companies, inland waterway shipping, NGOs, and media from all four Parties to the FASRB in order to pro-mote the Sava River and its value for all the basin countries.

On June 6th 2008, in Belgrade, the Sava Commission jointly with the Republic Water Directorate and Ministry of environmental protection of Republic of Serbia organised the Workshop on “Presentation of the Strat-egy for Implementation of the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin”, and, therewith, the activities on celebration of the Sava Day 2008 officially ended. Samo Grošelj Deputy Secretary for protection of waters and aquatic eco-system

Ljiljana Pandžić Expert Associate Secretariat of the Sava Commission

SAVANewsFlash 6 ENG

At the 11th Special Session of the Sava Commission (Za-greb, October 14-15, 2008), the Strategy on Implemen-tation of the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin (FASRB) was adopted. After more than two years of development of the document with an active participation of the Secretariat, expert groups and the Commission it-self, the draft Strategy was presented to wider public (Belgrade, June 6, 2008) and subsequently the final version was prepared and adopted by the Sava Com-mission.

The main direction towards the achieve-ment of the principal FASRB objectives has been decisively influenced by an inadequate status of water management and navigation in the basin, on one hand, and the existing European trends, on the other.

The present status of water management in the Sava basin level is largely affected by a lack of coordinated management in the 1990-ies that led to a threat to the waters and aquatic eco-system in the basin. At the same time, significant requirements have been formulated by the EU directives, such as the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Floods Directive. Therefore, the major issue to be dealt with in future, as recognized by the Strategy, includes the de-velopment of the Sava River Basin Manage-ment (RBM) Plan and the Flood Risk Man-agement Plan, in accordance with the EU directives.

The Sava RBM Plan is to be developed fully in line with the EU WFD; however the dead-line was shifted to 2011, due to a recent start of work of the Sava Commission. With-in this framework, a Joint Sava Survey is planned to be executed in next two years, while the Public Participation Strategy should be completed during 2009, to al-low the public consultation process through 2011. The Flood Risk Management Plan is to be aligned with the EU Floods Directive, both in terms of activities and deadlines de-fining year 2015 as the year for finalization of the Plan. Additionally, the development and improvement of the integrated system to exchange warnings and information on accident prevention and control is being implemented continuously.

Navigation on the Sava River currently fea-tures inadequate level of transport, due to present conditions of infrastructure qual-ity, links with road and railway transport networks, state of ports, and presence of unexploded ordnances. On the other hand, modern trends in EU recognize the inland waterway transport as a competitive mode of transport in comparison to others. Con-sequently, the goal stipulated under the Strategy is to establish safe and environ-mentally friendly transport on the Sava wa-terway.

In order to achieve this goal, a complex of continuous activities are planned, aim-ing at rehabilitation and development of waterway infrastructure and ports on the Sava river, and the development of Sava waterway classification system, marking and maintenance plans, and a set of rules harmonized with the corresponding Euro-pean regulation. Additionally, the indicator of river kilometres and album of bridges are to be prepared by 2009, and the manual for boatmasters and the navigation maps by 2010. A network of stations for collection of waste from vessels should be established by 2010, and the implementation of River Information Services on the Sava River is to be finalized by 2012.

In order to facilitate the achievement of the main FASRB goals, the development of the Sava GIS by 2012 is planned, based on the recently adopted GIS Implementation Strategy.

A considerable attention in the Strategy is paid to development of additional protocols to the FASRB. The draft protocols regulat-ing flood protection, emergency situations and prevention of water pollution caused by navigation are to be distributed within months to the countries for comments and possible negotiations, while those regulat-ing transboundary impacts and sustainable sediment management will be delivered to the countries during 2009. Subsequently, the protocol on water use should be drafted by 2011.

Although main directions for future devel-opments are clearly defined in the Strategy, it was not possible, due to existing uncer-tainties, to address the financial aspects in the present version of the document. Nev-ertheless, the Strategy is a living document that will regularly be updated and upgraded in future, in order to continuously improve the FASRB implementation towards realiza-tion of its main objectives.

Development Plans Yield Results

STRATEGY A road toward the FASRB objectives

Dejan Komatina, Secretary Secretariat of the Sava Commission

official bulletin of the ISRBC 7 ENG

Integral approach to reach the joint interests

7

In accordance with the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin (FASRB) and as agreed by high offi-cials of the countries on the 1st Meeting of the Parties, which was held on June 1st

2007, it is expected that the 2nd Meeting of the Par-ties to the FASRB will take place on June 1st 2009 in Belgrade (Serbia). Meeting of the Parties to the FASRB, which is foreseen to be held each two years, is the significant institutional mechanism of implementation of the FASRB, through monitoring and evaluation of the work and activities of the Sava Commission, adoption of respective decisions upon proposal of the Sava Commission, consideration and adop-tion of proposals of new protocols and, if necessary, reconsideration and undertaking the additional actions needed for its en-forcement.

At the same time, it is the occasion for further strengthening of role of the Sava Commission in its future enhancement of regional cooperation between the ripar-ian countries, as well as for recognition of their common interest that can be realized through the Sava Commission and with ac-tive cooperation with international actors and relevant projects. In this respect, the 1st Meeting of the Par-ties to the FASRB adopted the Declaration containing a series of standpoints and pre-cise commitments of the countries in light of further development of different means of cooperation in the basin in the field of water management, as well as a set of important guidelines for work of the Sava Commission between the two meetings of the Parties.

The 1st Meeting of the Parties also adopted the Methodology for Permanent Monitor-

ing of implementation of the FASRB, which contains regular reporting mechanisms of the Parties to the FASRB and obligation of the Sava Commission to, based on the col-lected data and its own professional assess-ment and acknowledgements, present the comprehensive review of implementation of the FASRB to high officials of the coun-tries on each meeting of the Parties. The Methodology for Permanent Monitoring of implementation of the FASRB also involves the availability of information, provided by the authorities responsible for implementa-tion of the FASRB, to all stakeholders and the public in due time.

Reports of the Parties, namely the data that need to be collected, are standardized by templates and guidelines for preparation of reports by the Parties to the FASRB, which have been developed by the Sava Commis-sion. Since this will be the first such reports as of beginning of work of the Sava Com-mission, we make sure that the same form of the report provides as high as possible quality of analysis and comparisons on one hand, and that reports are, where possible, harmonized with reporting on the country level that is already implemented pursuant to liabilities from other agreements relat-ing to water area, on the other hand.Based on the countries’ reports, and its own expert assessment and knowledge of achievements and needs, the Sava Commis-sion will prepare comprehensive report on implementation of the FASRB and its bien-nial work. This comprehensive report will inform about achieved progress and signifi-cant trends and challenges that have been perceived, which also involves identification of certain difficulties in implementation of the FASRB, as well as possible solutions. Anyway, goal is to identify innovative ap-proaches that could serve as a model for the Parties, so as to propose additional ac-tivities in respect of realization of purpose of the FASRB and its implementation, and, therewith, provide a high officials on the meeting of the Parties to reach adequate decisions of common interest for the basin countries in regard to water area.

ANNOUNCEMENT Toward the 2nd Meeting of the Parties to the FASRB

Melita Žižanović-Dakić, Special Advisor for Legal and General AffairsSecretariat of the Sava Commission

SAVANewsFlash 8 ENG

The FASRB will be accompanied by the pro-tocols that are to regulate special issues relating to the SRB, and precisely: • Protocol on transboundary impacts in the SRB • Protocol on emergency situations • Protocol on floods • Protocol on prevention of water pollution caused by navigation.

For better understanding the issues that are elaborated, very important is the ques-tion of relation between international le-gal instruments having impact to this area. Among many, the most important are the international agreements in the system of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), to which the protocols to the FASRB rely to in respect of regulation of the specific issues on regional level, and those are: • Convention on Environmental Impact As-sessment in a Transboundary Context (Es-poo Convention) • Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Helsinki conven-tion)• Convention on Protection and Use of the Transboundary Watercourses and Interna-tional Lakes (Water Convention).

These international legal instruments haven’t yet been ratified by all Parties to the FASRB, although they’ve incorporated liabilities, arising from these conventions and relevant EU directives, into their na-tional legislation. All these instruments stipulate the cooperation on international, regional, and respectively bilateral level.

Protocol on transboundary impacts in the SRB is aimed at regulation of procedure of issuance of water law acts for installations and activities that might have transbound-ary impact to the unity of the water regime in accordance with mechanisms of the Es-poo Convention, Water Convention and EU requirements. The water quality of many transboundary watercourses on entrance to territory of the Party to the FASRB is pretty poor. Measurement and sampling data in-dicate that transboundary surface waters are polluted by nutrients, oil, heavy metals and organic components. In this regard, we should stress that the development and en-forcement of mechanisms aimed at preven-tion of transboundary impacts, elevation of level of the watercourses protection against “transboundary impacts”, could bring to better conditions on many watercourses in the region.

Protocol on emergency situations, as well as the relevant international legal instruments of UNECE, have a goal to establish a risk as central category and assumption of deriva-tion of liabilities of the Parties, respectively this protocol and other relevant protocols to the FASRB. This is, on level of the proto-col, derived from “hazardous activities” un-dertaken, character of these activities and possible consequences to values that they protect. Fact is that this protocol stipulates two degrees of possible impact of the ac-cident, including industrial accidents and natural disasters to waters, water regime and aquatic eco-systems: 1. effects marked as “direct or indirect release of substances, which might have detrimental effects to

human health or quality of aquatic ecosys-tems, into waters”, and 2. transboundary effects involving “significant impacts” in transboundary context. Risk presents basis of liabilities of the countries that owe to secure that activities under their jurisdic-tion or control do not cause harm to other parties or areas beyond the border of their national jurisdiction. This especially relates to countries’ liabilities in the field of trans-boundary effects of accidents, and direct link between the risk and liability is the im-pact assessment in the SRB. Protocol on floods is aimed at regulation of issues regarding sustainable protection against floods in the SRB caused by ele-mentary forces and artificial impacts with objective to prevent or limit hazards and reduce or eliminate negative effects of floods. Parties of the protocol establish co-operation based on the Action program for sustainable protection against floods in the Danube River Basin, as well as the Directive of the European Parliament and Council on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risks (2007/60/EC). Among else, the objec-tive is to pass the joint Action Programme for development of the Flood Risk Manage-ment Plan in the SRB. Each country should also prepare preliminary flood risk assess-ment for its share of the SRB, as well as the Flood Mapping Inventory. The protocol also stipulates the preparation of the Flood Risk Management Plan, along with establishment of the informing, forecasting, warning and alarming system. Protocol on prevention of water pollution

FASRB Legal analysis of significance of the protocols to the FASRB

Principal prerequisite: information exchange

The First Meeting of the Parties to the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin (FASRB) was held on June 1st 2007, whereof, the Parties adopted the Decla-ration, which especially draw attention to necessity of the countries’ cooperation in re-spect of prevention and control of the water pollution, as well as consequences of possible trans-

boundary impacts and changes that are or may be caused by a pollution in the Sava River Basin (SRB).

In pursue of that goal, the Par-ties underlined the significance of development of protocols and stepping-up the activities in their preparation. Taking into account the basic principles and

requirements emanating from international legal instruments and regulations of the Euro-pean Union in this area, adop-tion of the protocols is aimed at harmonization of the water management regime in the SRB considering the features and specificity on a regional and re-spectively the national level.

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caused by navigation is aimed at preven-tion, control and reduction of pollution originating from vessels, establishment of technical requirements for equipping the ports, development of the best available techniques, informing, response measures and water quality monitoring. Water quality monitoring requires a network of national institutions for monitoring and inspection. Transboundary cooperation should include actions to prevent pollution from vessels by developing a joint action programme. Informing the competent authorities of downstream countries on location, quan-tity and polluting substances assumes use of all means of communication including radio network for early warning of pollu-tion. Efficient reactions in case of accident, which means release, spillage and disposal of substances from vessels, that has or may have transboundary impacts impact, re-quires set-up of institutional framework, meaning establishment of joint body for determination of reasons and facts relating to the accident, its impact to environment and possible pollution on the section of the waterway. Importance of protocols to the FASRB can be perceived through three areas: water use, protection against waters and water quality protection. Water is used for sup-plying the population and industry, hydroe-lectric power production, inland transport, irrigation, fishing, tourism and recreation. There’s a need to provide necessary wa-ter quality on transboundary watercourses for all of the mentioned uses. Protocol on transboundary impacts should, through ex-change of information on undertaking the activities that are subject to environmen-tal impact assessment in transboundary context, enable harmonization of criteria with requirements relating to informing and participation of all Parties to the FASRB

in transboundary consultations on regional level. Protection against hazardous impacts of waters involves realization of a series of facilities and other activities for protection of people, natural and man made goods from floods and all types of water erosion. In light of modern global tendencies, the water quality protection requires that the largest investments in near future are re-lated to collection, disposition and refine-ment of waste waters from the territory of the Parties to the FASRB, more precisely the protocols. Liabilities from the protocol will impact to obligations of the Parties to undertake measures on national level in re-gard to development of legal regulations, establishment of administrative, financial and technical measures for prevention of accidents, as well as bringing to level of operative readiness to respond to accident adequately, including floods protection and prevention of water pollution caused by navigation. Principally, this refers to obli-gations of the competent authorities and holders of industrial and other activities, for purpose of establishment of prevention measures, preparedness measures and re-sponse in case of emergency situations. Main liabilities originating from protocols principally refer to:• Establishment of identification, consulta-tion and mutual informing in regard to all activities, including industrial activities that may cause transboundary impacts ef-fects for which the impacts assessment is prepared (for existing and planned activi-ties) • Setting-up the risk assessment and risk management measures (hazardous activi-ties, including natural disasters and indus-trial accidents) • Introduction of long-term measures for risk reduction, based on development and implementation of new safe technologies

and overall development planning, in ac-cordance with overall environmental ca-pacities • Establishment of water quality monitoring on national level • Set-up of the appropriate system for in-forming, forecasting, warning and alarm-ing, realization of cooperation and mutual assistance in case of announcement or ac-tual accident that could cause transbound-ary effects (from enterprises to municipal, regional or state level) • Cooperation in development, researches and exchange of knowledge, information and technology in the field of risk manage-ment, as well as in development and imple-mentation of new technologies.

Protocols should enable information exchange as much as possible. Implementation of protocols could have direct or long-term impact to different branches of economy, which use water re-sources or make impact to them in their activities (agriculture, industry, energet-ics, inland transport, fishery, tourism). Economic implications indicate to more in-tensive possibility to participate in regional cooperation and projects implemented in respect of prevention, control and reduc-tion of transboundary impacts, in field of monitoring and assessment, development of system of warning and alarming on criti-cal situations that may have transboundary impact. Gordana Petković, member of the Ad-hocLegal Expert Group of the Sava Commission from Republic of Serbia

SAVANewsFlash 10 ENG

Feasibility Study and Project Documentation for the Rehabilitation and Development of Transport and Navigation on the Sava River Waterway

Pacific Consultants International, head-quartered in Tokyo (Japan), was selected as the lead consultant in association with Witteveen+Bos (The Netherlands); NEA – Transport Research and Training (The Neth-erlands); CRUP – Inland Navigation Devel-opment Centre Ltd. (Croatia); and Dvokut – ECRO (Croatia) completed the Feasibility Study and Project Documentation for the Rehabilitation and Development of Trans-port and Navigation on the Sava River Wa-terway, commissioned by the International Sava River Basin Commission. The Study commenced on 1 December 2007 and ter-minated 31 July 2008 with the submission of the Final Report.

The main objective of the Study was to rec-ommend the strategy and programs for the development of the Sava River waterway and to provide an appropriate economic and organizational framework for restoring trade and navigation (cargo and passengers) on the Sava with an aim to do as follows:1. Improve public and private investments into transport on the Sava River, in accord-ance with adequate economic and financial analysis;2. Propose enhancement of coordination of activities regarding inland navigation and to set up priorities of public interests;3. Obtain an integrated approach consider-ing water management, energy production, flood control and environmental aspects in the Sava River basin; and4. Propose improvement of the infrastruc-ture.

The context

The rehabilitation of the Sava River origi-nally included the restoration of commer-cial navigation to conditions similar as these, existing around end of the eighties.

In practical terms, this implies the resto-ration of navigability according to Class IV specifications on the river section between Belgrade and Sisak.

Study Results

Following final conclusions resulted from the detailed investigations conducted dur-ing the Feasibility Study:1. The Sava River can be structurally di-vided into two segments, each with its par-ticular characteristics. These segments are respectivelya. Belgrade – Sisak, which is predominantly for commercial traffic and for which resto-ration of a guaranteed navigation fairway is of extreme urgency. Several areas also have important tourism development potential; andb. Sisak – Brežice, which is predominantly for tourism development and where the in-troduction of navigation is of a secondary nature.2. The guaranteed navigation fairway down-stream Sisak on the section Belgrade – Sisak should be of Sava Commission Classification

NAVIGATION Rehabilitation and Development of Transport on the Sava River

Figure 1

Cumulative traffic volume per main segment (year 2027, minimum and maximum estimated volumes)

Long-term benefits through investments

official bulletin of the ISRBC �� ENG

(SCC) Class Va. 3. Upgrading the Sava River section up-stream Sisak does not find any economic and financial validation and should not be con-sidered. 4. The river section upstream Sisak can also be structurally divided into two segments, namely:a. Sisak – Rugvica (Zagreb) where the con-struction of a guaranteed navigation fairway is technically not too complex and could be considered for reasons other than economic and financial. b. Zagreb – Brežice (Posavje Region) where introducing commercial navigation is impos-sible on financial and economic grounds and where even the construction of a navigation fairway is impeded by a large number of uncertainties, related to the possible con-struction of one or more hydropower plants upstream Zagreb and the political problem that investments are on Croatian territory while the large majority of benefits will be for Slovenia, and the Posavje Region in par-ticular.5. If in the long term future a navigation fairway is developed upstream Sisak, SCC Class II is sufficient to allow recreational navigation. if the port of Rugvica is build and commercial navigation pursued on the river section Sisak – Rugvica, Class Va should be guaranteed to efficiently connect with the river section downstream Sisak. However, it should be stressed again that this develop-ment finds no economic or financial justifica-tion and will have to be decided for politi-cal, social or other non-economic reasons.

Once navigation downstream Sisak is guaran-teed to SCC Class Va, cumulated traffic could reach over 20 million tonnes by 2027 on the river section between Šabac and Belgrade while also the performance of the other river sections and of the entire river section downstream Sisak as a whole incite for the rapid upgrading of the Sava River to Class Va between Sisak and Belgrade. The expected year 2027 traffic volumes per river

section are visualized in Figure 1 (page 10). The range of expected traffic is between the volumes estimated assuming low economic growth as compared to traffic volumes gen-erated under the high economic growth sce-nario.The immediate upgrading to SCC Class Va is preferred over the rehabilitation of Sava River to SCC Class IV and a possible ulterior upgrading to Class Va, as can be concluded from Table 1.

Table 1 Comparing economic feasibility

The upgrading to SCC Class Va of Sava River section Belgrade – Sisak can be realized at a total cost equalling 65,161,300 Euros as compared to 62,794,200 Euros for the re-habilitation of the same section to Class IV. Including 10% contingency cost and a 15% realization cost on the capital and contin-gency costs combined, the total project cost increases to 82,429,045 Euros, compared to 79,434,663 Euros for the rehabilitation to

Class IV.A tentative distribution of the costs over the involved riparian States, based upon the length of the Sava River on their respective territories, is presented in Table 2.

Table 2 Distribution of costs per involved country

Prioritization of the implementation process can be done according to different criteria. Taking traffic volumes per river section as guiding reference, the works should start on the Belgrade – Šabac stretch and should con-tinue upstream Sisak in a sequential manner until reaching Sisak. Using on the contrary as decision criteria estimated port benefits generated by the rehabilitation of the river; the works should simultaneously start at dif-ferent locations along the river and be ex-ecuted in a fragmented manner. Combining both decision criteria suggest that the best approach is to realize the works for the en-tire section Belgrade – Sisak simultaneously and the decision on the sequential order of execution should be left to the discretion of the company or companies contracted to ex-ecute the works.

IRR* - Internal rate of ReturnNPV** - Net Present Value

Dr. Eddy Declercq, Project ManagerProject titled “Feasibility Study and Project Documentation for the Rehabilitation and Development of Transport and Navigation on the Sava River Waterway”

Riparian State SERBIA B&H CROATIA

Capital investment

Euro 20,085,449 14,649,301 47,694,295

% of total budget 24.4% 17.8% 57.9%

Annual maintenance costs

% of total budget

24.4% 17.8% 57.9%

Euro/year 814,966 594,395 1,935,194

IRR* per economic scenario Class IV Class Va

High volume scenario 13.90% 26.90%

Medium volume scenario 7.30% 20.20%

Low volume scenario n.a. 11.60%

NPV** (6% discount rate), million Euros

Class IV Class Va

High volume scenario 51.2 288.2

Medium volume scenario 6.8 157.9

Low volume scenario -�� 44

NPV** (9% discount rate), million Euros

Class IV Class Va

High volume scenario 113.7 179.5

Medium volume scenario 52.9 91.1

Low volume scenario -0.3 15.3

SAVANewsFlash 12 ENG

INFRASTRUCTURE River Information Services

The availability of efficient trans-port infrastructure alongside the Pan-European Network of Inland Wa-terways is of particular importance for economic growth in Europe. In comparison to land transport in-frastructure, European waterways, and in particular rivers Danube and Sava, offer significant capacity and a potential to develop in a sustain-able transport system connecting the South East Europe Region with the European markets.

In spite of its obvious advantages, inland water-way transport still does not exploit its full po-tential as innovative, reliable and cost-effective transport mode for medium and long distances and, in order to make inland waterway transport more attractive to the industry, it has to be in-tegrated into modern supply chains. In the Sava countries, inland navigation cannot be integrated efficiently into multimodal supply chains due to the following key problems:•Infrastructure problems with insufficient depth and width of the fairway;•loss of transport time due to borders’ control procedures in the transport route;•no reliable information of position of inland ves-sel and dangerous cargo is available; •no exact information about time of arrival of vessel at inland port leads to loss of time within transhipment processes.

The most important problem is underdeveloped infrastructure, so the Sava countries are under-going the process of rehabilitation and devel-opment of the Sava River Waterway and in this framework all other mentioned problems must be properly and timely solved. This can be achieved with the telematic systems and related services, the so-called River Information Services (RIS). RIS is of strategic importance for the future growth of inland waterway transport. Therefore, it is mentioned as a key measure in the White Paper on European Transport of the European Union.

What is RIS?River Information Services are the concept of the harmonized information services for the support of transport of goods on inland waterways, in-cluding connections with other modes of trans-port. RIS have a task to improve safety and ef-ficiency on inland waterways and intensify their utilization.RIS are composed of the following components/services: •FIS – fairway information services (marking sys-

tem for navigation, voice radio communication, internet, electronic navigation charts-ENC);• TI – traffic information (tactical traffic image-TTI, strategic traffic image-STI);• TM – traffic management (vessel traffic service-VTS, lock and bridge management-LBM);•Voyage management;•Port management;•Fleet management.Most important RIS benefits for all users of the waterways:•Improvement of general safety of inland water-way traffic especially through efficient monitor-ing of waterborne dangerous goods transporta-tion and exchange of information in case of calamity;•More efficient cooperation between the author-ities due to international exchange of traffic and transport data;•Development of a digital river map on basis of European standards (Inland ECDIS);•Precise surveying of waterway, buoys and river banks; •Establishing interoperable traffic management systems on basis of European standards (Inland AIS, Inland ECDIS) in all European countries with major waterways;•Improvement of transport efficiency of water-borne transportation and efficient integration of inland waterway transport into multimodal sup-ply chains by means of electronic integration of actors in logistics chain.

RIS on European levelAll nations along the Danube and the Rhine ac-knowledged the importance of RIS and declared at the Pan-European Conference on Inland Water-way Transport in Rotterdam in September 2001:“... To invite governments concerned to establish a Pan-European River Information Service (RIS) by the year 2005, based on standards to be drawn up in the framework of the European Union, UN/ECE and the two River Commissions, since river in-formation services contribute to safer and more efficient inland waterway transport ...”

As a result, two measures must be undertaken to reach this goal on European level: Step 1: Preparation for Pan-European installation of RIS Step 2: Coordinated and harmonized Installation and Operation of RIS in every country The European Union invested significant efforts in development of technological basis for RIS in various projects. These projects led to pre-liminary standardization of Inland AIS (Automatic Information System), Inland ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System).

The success of some of these projects resulted in the follow-up project COMPRIS (Consortium Op-

erational Management Platform River Information Services) within the 5th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration of the European Union (FP 5). The project COMPRIS can be considered as the most significant action before final implementation of RIS across Europe. For this reason, COMPRIS is the joint European approach in which 44 partners from 11 different countries worked on the stand-ardization and harmonization of the RIS concept, architecture and applications. These efforts have resulted in the entry-into-force of the Directive 2005/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on harmonized river traffic informa-tion services on inland waterways in the Com-munity and further development in the specific countries on the Danube and Rhine.

RIS in the Sava River BasinUnder the Sava Commission’s Strategy on Imple-mentation of the FASRB, the RIS implementation in the Sava River Basin is one of the most im-portant activities. Accordingly, the Permanent Expert Group for Navigation in beginning of 2008 accepted the List of activities and timeframe for RIS implementation and RIS Standard, technolo-gies and protocols (Inland ECDIS, AIS…). As a fol-low-up activity, the Sava Commission is launching the Project “Detailed Technical Specification and Prototype Installation for the River Information Services on the Sava River” whose main purpose will be the design of the RIS on the Sava River. In accordance with the Terms of Reference the main deliverables of this Project will be:•Detailed Design of the RIS system, including possible lots for implementation with prelimi-nary Cost Estimates;•Assessment of Conformity of the proposed RIS system;•Technical Specifications of the proposed RIS sys-tem;•Prototype installation for basic RIS services (NtS, ENC, AIS, Data exchange Gateway, ECDIS onboard and onshore system);•Tender Documentation. Taking into account abovementioned informa-tion, it is obvious that the Sava Commission is dedicated to development of the RIS in the Sava River Basin and connection with a seamless RIS from the ARA-ports to the Black Sea which will boost efficiency and safety of water transport operations in this transport corridor. Therefore, the RIS will be one of the key elements in devel-opment of sustainable and ecologically friendly waterway transport in the Sava River Basin.

Technology enables progressFigure 1: RIS technical infrastructure

Željko MilkovićDeputy Secretary for NavigationSecretariat of the Sava Commission

official bulletin of the ISRBC �� ENG

COOPERATION Different stakeholders at table

Navigation development and/or environmental protection

In 2007, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and International Sava River Basin Commis-sion (ISRBC) initiated an informal coopera-tion with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). As a result of the cooperation, the Workshop “Environmentally Sustain-able Management and Maintenance of the Inland Waterways” was organized by the ISRBC, with support of the USACE. The Workshop was held on October 21, 2008, at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade.

The topic of the Workshop has been chosen as an attractive and challenging one on a wide scale, as it b together two traditionally opposing groups – navigation developers and environmentalists. This topic is especially relevant in the Sava river basin, as the Sava waterway is to be redeveloped after many years of neglect. Therefore, this was a right moment to find a well-balanced approach in terms of fulfilling both navigation needs and environmental requirements, thus also matching the scope of work of the ISRBC, including the both – navigation and environ-mental issues.

The objectives of the workshop were to:• introduce regional stakeholders, primarily institutions engaged in waterways manage-ment, maintenance and construction, with experiences and best practices of the US-ACE in the fields of management of inland waterways, fairway design and dredging research;•present practice of regional experts in de-velopment and maintenance of inland wa-terways;•present the first ever “Joint Statement on Guiding Principles for the Development of Inland Navigation and Environmental Pro-tection in the Danube River Basin”, that was created in a year-long interdisciplinary process led by the ICPDR, Danube Commis-sion and the ISRBC;•present the newly prepared “Feasibility Study and Project Documentation for the Rehabilitation and Development of Trans-port and Navigation on the Sava River Wa-terway”; •initiate a direct cooperation between US and regional experts to identify possible approaches for sustainable development of waterways in the Sava river basin. More than 80 representatives of organiza-

tions and institutions such as the Danube Commission, ICPDR, EC Delegation to Ser-bia, World Bank, USAID, South Eastern Eu-rope Transport Observatory, Regional Coop-eration Council, as well as representatives of governmental institutions, NGOs, experts and scientists from the Sava countries, par-ticipated in the Workshop.

Ten interesting presentations were deliv-ered by experts from USACE, ICPDR, ISRBC, Via-Donau and the Institute for the Devel-opment of the Water Resources “Jaroslav Černi“Belgrade, and discussed by the par-ticipants.

In closing, it was concluded that:•the Workshop is just the beginning of com-munication between governmental institu-tions, universities, civil and business sector, that should be maintained in future; •application of an integrated, interdiscipli-nary and risk-based approach is essential in future projects related to development of inland navigation;•several innovative approaches that can be used in future projects and contribute to environmentally sound solutions in develop-ing the inland waterways were presented;•the Joint Statement provides a solid framework for future projects and the Sava project is seen to be a next example of its implementation;•the ISRBC will make efforts, in coopera-tion with the two Danube commissions, in organizing such meetings in future.

All presentations are available on the ISRBC web-site, www.savacommission.org.

Back-to-back with the Workshop, a meet-ing of the USACE experts with representa-tives of the Sava countries, responsible for inland waterway transport (i.e. ministries, agencies and port master offices), was held in “Plovput”, Serbian Directorate for main-tenance and development of inland water-ways, where possible modes of cooperation and further steps were defined. The pro-gram was completed by a short boat trip on the Danube and Sava rivers in Belgrade.

Dejan Komatina, Secretary Secretariat of the Sava Commission

SAVANewsFlash 14 ENG

COOPERATION Importance of dialogue among river commissions

Through cooperation to better performance

As a result, the cooperation has been set up with majority of European river com-missions, including the international com-missions for the protection of the Danube (ICPDR), Rhine (ICPR), Elbe (IKSE), Oder, Mosel and Saar, Maas and Scheldt rivers, and the international navigation commis-sions for the Danube (Danube Commission), Rhine (CCNR), and Mosel. Additionally, the cooperation with the Mississippi River Com-mission from the USA has also been estab-lished.

A platform for cooperation is ensured by or-ganizing the annual meetings where heads of the secretariats of the international river protection commissions gather to exchange information, experiences, publications and other documents, as well as to discuss rele-vant issues or get advices on existing needs. So far, the Sava Commission participated in three such meetings, hosted by ICPR (Koblenz, 2006), IKSE (Magdeburg, 2007), and the International Commission for the Protection of the Leman Lake (Nyon, 2008). At the last meeting it was decided that the gathering in 2009 will be hosted by the Sava Commission, which is another opportunity for the Sava Commission to further improve relationships with the commissions and strengthen its position within the family of these international bodies.

As the Sava is a sub-basin of the Danube

and a part of the Danube transport sys-tem, it is reasonable that especially close cooperation exists with the two Danube commissions, the Vienna-based ICPDR and the Budapest-based Danube Commission. A good relationship with the ICPDR, that in-cludes mutual participation at the sessions of the commissions and the meetings of the expert groups (e.g. those dealing with RBM, accidents, floods, GIS), has been formalized by signing the Memorandum of Understand-ing on cooperation and coordination of activities (June 6, 2008, Belgrade), provid-ing a basis for even closer cooperation and joint activities of the two organizations in future.

In the field of navigation, the technical co-operation is maintained with the Danube Commission in a similar manner as with the ICPDR, and a Memorandum of Understand-ing on cooperation of the two commissions is being developed, in order to bring the relationship to a higher level than provided by mutual observership. Additionally, the effective cooperation of the Sava Commis-sion with the Danube Commission and the CCNR should be mentioned, where joint work on unification of rules, requirements and technical standards related to naviga-tion is continuously being performed.

The best example of a productive coopera-tion of the Sava Commission with the ICPDR

and the Danube Commission is the joint work on development of the “Joint State-ment on Guiding Principles for the Develop-ment of Inland Navigation and Environmen-tal Protection in the Danube River Basin“, that was performed during the last year in an interdisciplinary process led by the three commissions, and adopted by the commis-sions in December 2007 and January 2008. The follow-up activities and implementa-tion of the Joint Statement present a solid platform for maintenance of a continuous communication and further development of the cooperation between the three com-missions.

Cooperation with international river com-missions is recognized by the Sava Com-mission as one of its key activities, as this cooperation provides not only a transfer of relevant information and possibilities for creating synergy, but also helps the Sava Commission to assess the relevance of its activities and the quality of the results in implementation of the FASRB. Therefore, continuous efforts are to be made by the Sava Commission in future to keep its po-sition in the network of the river commis-sions.

The Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin (FASRB) emphasizes the cooperation with international bodies and river commis-sions as a way towards its more successful and efficient implementation. As the Sava Commission finds this cooperation equally important as the collaboration with national institutions responsible for the FASRB imple-mentation in the Sava countries, a consider-able attention has been paid to cooperation since the establishment of the Sava Commis-sion.

Dejan Komatina, Secretary Secretariat of the Sava Commission

official bulletin of the ISRBC 15 ENG

After Croatia became independent, the first agreement was signed with Republic of Hungary on June 10th 1994, and afterwards with Republic of Slovenia on October 25th 1996 and with Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 22nd 1998. All of the stated agreements proceed from commitment of the parties that joint reso-lution of water management issues will be based on international agreements regulat-ing the cooperation issues on transbound-ary water courses and basins, which are spreading on several countries. Notably, it’s the Water Convention (Helsinki Convention) and the Danube River Protection Conven-tion signed in Sofia in 1994. For Adriatic Sea of importance is the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention). For water-management cooperation in the Danube River Basin of special significance is the Danube River Protection Convention, which opened a path of collaboration to the countries in the Danube River Basin, which is the largest basin in Europe.

By entry-into-force of the Directive 2000/60/EC establishing the framework for functioning of the Community in water policy area, activities of the International Commission for the Protection of the Dan-ube River have directed to implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive in the member countries, which also significantly reflected to bilateral water-management cooperation.

In international cooperation, especially bi-lateral, activities of the established com-missions for enforcement of agreements have been partially directed to implemen-tation of the Water Framework Directive in context of development of River Basin Man-agement Plans.

Due to fact that all water areas in Repub-lic of Croatia (Drava River area, Sava River area, water area of Dalmatian basins and water area of Primorje-Istrian basins) are located on the section of international ba-sins, consequently the countries will, ac-cording to provisions of the Water Frame-work Directive, have to coordinate their actions for purpose of development of the integral plan for management of the inter-national basin.

In this pursue, the special bilateral com-missions are established and within their activities they determine the water charac-terization on transboundary area, as well as the joint surface and ground water bodies, and other joint activities that are originat-ing from the Water Framework Directive and are of importance for development of the River Basin Management Plans.Beside the specified activities on enforce-ment of the Water Framework Directive, bilateral cooperation also include other water-management issues regarding the watercourse regulation on sections of com-mon interest, protection against floods, implementation of the joint surface water quality monitoring, etc.

By signing of the Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin, new forms of coun-tries’ cooperation are launched in the Sava River water area, which is one of the most important sub-basin of the Danube River. That cooperation has a priority task to de-velop the integral Sava River Basin Manage-ment Plan as a section of the international basin of the Danube River. The Internation-al Sava River Basin Commission will offici-ate for coordination of activities aimed at development of integral management plan in a way that certain countries will develop their plans for the section of the water area of the Sava River, and such development is to be coordinated on the Sava Commission’s level in order to meet the required laid in the Water Framework Directive.

Water management is becoming more sig-nificant factor in economic and social de-velopment of each country, and interna-tional community as well. Hence, it’s no wonder that a number of water-related international agreements and many direc-tives were signed and passed in last decade as never since in the history of mankind, so consequently the international approach to water management issues has become of special significance in each country.

COOPERATION Water Policy in Republic of Croatia

Water as significant factor in economic and social development

International cooperation in water management area in Republic of Croatia lasts as of year 1955, and commenced between Croatia and Hungary by signing of the Agreement on water management cooperation between the Government of Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia and the Government of People’s Republic of Hungary.

Željko Ostojić, Head of the Department for international cooperationMinistry of regional development, forestry and water management Republic of Croatia

SAVANewsFlash 16 ENG

Pleasant sound of running water is mixed by hollow buzz of insects. Constant sound is timely interrupted by splash of fish catching their meal on the surface. In the middle of the river, the fisherman in the boat peace-fully soaks hooks and enjoys in a beautiful landscape. At meadow, a group of people enjoy themselves after the plentiful lunch, children play football, and others resting in the shadow. The ball rolls into the water, the children run after the ball, the brav-est one wades into shallow pool. When he touches the ball, he notices that the ball is greasy. Then he looks around and notices a large greasy stain spreading on the river surface. The light of the Sunday afternoon is reflected by rainbow colours on the stain. When his mother notices, that the child has gone too far into the deep water, she warns him. But the flock of the dead fish, which have been caught into the branches of the tree, has wakened the child’s attention. He calls up the adults and they all gather on the river bank. The river is not so green any more as it was before.„The factory upstream has, back again, re-leased its waste into the river, probably by night when nobody could notice! Nobody could prove it is the one who always pol-lutes our river“ comment the adults.„If this happens again and again, the river life will extinct and we’ll lose the pleasant place at the river banks. We hope someone will restrain them in doing so!“One of the important segments of protec-tion of waters against pollution is a wa-ter pollution contingency warning system, which enables different institutions to act

in a most efficient way in case of pollution, such as a discharge of hazardous substances as a result of human activity or accident. Pollution warning alarms the relevant insti-tutions or organizations quickly and allows them to get prepared on time and to act in a proper way in order to minimize the im-pacts of pollution to the water regime and aquatic eco-system. After the event the post-accident analysis of the contingency management plan should be prepared to improve the efficiency of the contingency system.The water pollution contingency manage-ment system for Sava River Basin (SRB), which involves all elements of protection, warning, acting and post-accident analysis, is the subject of WACOSS project (Water Pollution Contingency Management System for Sava River Basin).

The main objectives of the WACOSS project are:-Development of a common decision sup-port system to be implemented in all in-volved institutions, enabling the integration of large amount of data into the common decisional framework -Development of efficient transnational early accident response and accident pre-vention system within different institutions in the SRB to prevent and minimize impacts to water and aquatic eco-system-To increase knowledge by integrating the accident prevention and control system in a common pollution propagation model-To increase a level of protection of popula-tion in terms of water use and protection of

other water uses -To increase cooperation among the institu-tions involved in water management and in-stitutions involved in civil protection issues (cross-sectoral integration)-To increase cooperation among the institu-tions in transnational context (operational networking of institutions), with the capac-ity building-Integration of different sectors as poten-tial accidental pollution sources into the project context (inland navigation, indus-trial use, road and rail transport) -Efficient integration of key water users, which must be informed in case of acciden-tal pollution -Protection of specially designated areas-Transnational planning framework for in-creased preparedness -Transnational optimization of measures in case of accidental pollution -Transnational post-event analysis frame-work-To increase public participation and public awareness about the accident prevention and control.

By implementation of the WACOSS project, the pollution of water and the impacts to water and aquatic eco-system in case of ac-cident would be, as much as possible, mini-mized. The above mentioned event would be a history on the territory of Sava River Basin!

Spotless Rivers for the Future

SAFETY Water Pollution Management in the Sava River Basin

A pleasant Sunday afternoon, high summer, when we all wish to go out, into the nature, to enjoy fresh air, warm sun, at river banks, in a shadow of the trees. The most beautiful place is beside the clean green river, under the branches of trees which stretch onto the water surface.

16 SAVANewsFlash ENG /

Samo Grošelj, Deputy Secretary for protection of waters and aquatic eco-systemSecretariat of the Sava Commission