(Press Release) Fourth Joint Danube Survey (JDS4) kicks-off in Budapest
Budapest, 27 June 2019 – The official kick-off for JDS4, the fourth Joint Danube Survey, is taking place in Budapest this year, starting up the Danube-wide survey in the heart of the Hungarian capital hosted by the City of Budapest and organised by the Hungarian Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate of Water Management (OVF).
The event included series of introductory talks and presentations, a river sampling demonstration, plus a press conference all taking place for the event on the Margitsziget (Margaret island) in Budapest, and in the presence of the Deputy Mayor of Budapest, the Hungarian Deputy State Secretary for the Interior, and several of the key members of the ICPDR team.
For the unaware, JDS4 is the fourth Joint Danube Survey, one of the world’s largest river surveys, conducted across all countries of the Danube River Basin every six years. National teams head out into the field along to produce reliable and comparable information on carefully selected elements of water quality for the length of the Danube River, including its major tributaries. Vitally it wished to harmonise water monitoring practices and procedures in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) through close coordination and further training.
The three main objectives of JDS4 are the following:
- to collect data on parameters normally not analysed during ongoing monitoring;
- to collect information about the water characteristics and organisms living in a variety of locations along the river in a format that is readily comparable across regions and countries; and
- to raise awareness of the quality of the Danube waters and the ongoing protection and restoration efforts.
Three Joint Danube Surveys have previously been conducted, in 2001, 2007, and 2013. The in-depth results of these surveys are available online at the ICPDR.
In addition to our scientific and technical goals of monitoring water quality during JDS4, another key goal is to increase public awareness of these water protection and conservation issues throughout the Danube River Basin. Our experience with local, national and international outreach is informed by our three previous surveys over the last 18 years. During that time, news of the JDS has been featured in many of the most widely distributed newspapers, listened to radio programs, and watched TV stations in the Danube countries.
In 2019, our outreach goals are significantly greater as a result of new processes JDS activities are engaged in at the national level, increasing responsibility to those who best know the local regions, cultures, and opportunities. This year, more people than ever could discover the importance of the Danube, about the national and international protection efforts - and generally come out for a good time on the Danube this summer!
As with previous surveys, a special ICPDR website (www.danubesuvey.org) is dedicated to sharing JDS results online, along with various stories and pictures, updated for the more international, more locally-sensitive, and more educational style we’re adopting in 2019.
Along with ICPDR president, Péter Kovács, one of the key speakers at the JDS4 launch in Budapest, in attendance is also ICPDR Executive Secretary Ivan Zavadsky and JDS4 co-ordinator, Igor Liska. The presentation of JDS4 gave an outline into some of the methods and aims of the survey, before attendees were able to observe a live demonstration of a typical survey sampling, done right there on the banks of the Danube in Budapest.
To find out more about JDS4, please visit: www.danubesurvey.org
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Contact
Hélène Masliah-Gilkarov
Public Participation & Communication
ICPDR Secretariat at UNOV
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-4373
Fax: (+43-1) 26060-5895
Mobile: (+43 676) 845 200 220
E-mail: helene.masliah-gilkarov[at]icpdr.org
Web: www.icpdr.org
