The Danube is the largest river in the EU that flows 2826 km southeastwards from Germany to the Black Sea and collects water from a river basin that includes 19 countries, more than any other river in the world. With the aim of obtaining a complex picture of the water quality in the Danube and its major tributaries, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River organises periodic investigations: the Joint Danube Surveys (JDS).
The key purpose of JDS is to gather vital data on carefully selected elements of water quality across the entire length of the Danube River and its major tributaries. Four JDSs have been previously conducted - in 2001, 2007, 2013 and 2019 - and the fifth of its kind, JDS5, takes place throughout 2025. The outcome of the JDS5 should cover the information gaps deemed necessary for the planned 2027 update of the Danube River Basin Management Plan.
Since 2013, researchers from the Centre RECETOX of Masaryk University in Brno (www.recetox.cz) and the Centre CENAKVA of the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (www.cenakva.cz) , with the support of the NORMAN association, have actively contributed to the JDS. In 2019, their study set a baseline for characterising chemical pollution in the Danube River using an innovative approach, combining the use of passive sampling technology with comprehensive chemical and bioanalytical assessment at ten sampling sites along the river. In 2025, the study will be repeated to investigate how the contamination patterns and trends have changed in six years.
Toxicologist Branislav Vrana from the RECETOX Centre of Masaryk University in Brno spoke about the research on the Danube River on "Český rozhlas Plus" (7:44-7:52).
