Management of the Danube drainage basin: implications of contaminant-metal dispersal for the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive

Figures & data

Figure 1 Map of the River Danube drainage basin showing the location of major metal ore deposits

Table 1 Mean metal and As concentrations (µg/l) in point-source mine drainage within the Danube drainage basin

Location	Mine and mine waste drainage
	pH	As	Cd	Cu	Pb	Zn
Romania
Băiuţ mine (n = 4)	3.4	120	140	1900	370	34,400
Coranda mine (n = 3)	3.2	140	330	1300	100	40,600
Ghezuri mine (n = 2)	3.5	75	1200	8000	780	161,500
Penhiger mine (n = 3)	2.6	70	84	130	220	39,400
Socea mine (n = 2)	2.7	140	100	1000	155	19,300
Novaţ tailings pond (n = 5)	3.5	40	70	1500	1000	14,000
Roşia Montana mine (n = 4)	2.8	110	210	13,500	25	28,500
Roşia Poieni mine^a	3.8	2.3	89	–	15	5,000
Bulgaria
Etropole mine (n = 3)	7.8	1	1.5	640	40	<1
KZM smelter (n = 1)	9.0	5	380	100	160	45,000
Assarel mine (n = 5)	2.4	10	41	89,700	20	3,300
Medet mine (n = 3)	4.9	10	14	66,700	20	4,350
Madjarovo mine (n = 4)	6.1	40	1000	280	1,100	83,000
Hungary
Gyöngyösorszi mine^b	5.3–5.7	0.5–1.2	–	<6	<50	18,000
Serbia
Veliki Krielj mine (Bor)^c	4.4	–	–	127,500	–	3100
Bor open pit^c	3.4	240	30	174,600	15	31330
Bor smelting plant^c	2.4	17	225	54,040	2080	1920
Trepca mine complex	–	–	46	20	1000	5500
Slovenia
Mežica mine^d	–	14	5	141	1100	3900
^aMilu et al. (2002).
^bOdor et al. (1998).
^cKorac and Kamberovic (2006).
^dPrestor et al. (2003).

Table 2 Metal and As concentrations (µg/l) in river water as a result of inputs from mining point sources

	Study reach (km)	pH	As	Cd	Cu	Pb	Zn
Romania
River Certej (n = 15)	20	2.8–7.4 (5.03)	<0.2–140 (28)	2.6–1490 (390)	8–3400 (1350)	1.5–110 (50)	340–156,400 (47,300)
River Turţ (n = 15)	25	1.2–5 (2.8)	0.4–1.6 (0.9)	2.1–127 (69)	9–5100 (3300)	2–100 (77)	380–70,000 (45,000)
River Tarna Mare (n = 4)	5	2.8–6.1 (4.6)	1.1–2.6 (1.5)	0.2–32 (21)	6–244 (185)	<0.3–40 (26)	60-6800 (4450)
River Roşia (n = 5)	8	2.8–7.7 (4.9)	1.8–160 (48)	0.2–96 (47)	20–900 (620)	<0.2–2.9 (2.6)	15–15,000 (7280)
Hungary
River Parad Bikk^a	30	5–8 (6.6)	50–650 (56)	–	10–70 (13)	–	10–420 (64)
Bulgaria
River Malak Iskar (n = 4)	20	7.5–8.1 (7.8)	<0.3–2.1 (1.8)	<0.1–1.6 (0.8)	5–640 (280)	<0.3	2–62 (25)
Serbia
River Saraka^b	2	3.6–7.4 (4.9)	n.d.–13 (<1)	2–10 (19)	1855–217,650 (76,680)	n.d.–24 (10)	119–2305 (1020)
River Ibar^c	–	7.1–8.8	–	19–200	190–2900	290–1660	1100–4600
River Sitnica^c	–	5.1–8.7	–	25–200	190–1900	500–8000	2400–9200
Note: Range of concentration with mean in parentheses where appropriate.
^aJordan et al. (2003).
^bKorac and Kamerovic (2006).
^cBehrami et al. (2008).

Table 3 Estimated daily metal loads (kg/day) from mining point sources and in mining-affected rivers

	As	Cd	Cu	Pb	Zn
River Muşcanilor (Romania, 0.1 m^3/s)
Roşia Poieni mine (10 l/s)	–	0.08	–	0.01	4.3
End of study reach (7 km)	–	–	0.09	–	0.48
River Tarna Mare (Romania, 0.1 m^3/s)
Socea mine (8 l/s)	0.09	0.06	0.69	0.11	13
End of study reach (5 km)	0.02	0.01	1.1	0.25	25
River Certej (Romania, 0.3 m^3/s)
Coranda mine (6 l/s)	0.15	3.5	1.1	0.47	240
End of study reach (20 km)	0.10	3.8	2.1	0.67	480
River Turt (Romania, 0.2 m^3/s)
Ghezuri mine (8 l/s)	0.05	0.83	5.5	0.54	110
Penhiger mine (7 l/s)	0.04	0.05	0.08	0.13	23
End of study reach (25 km)	0.02	4.3	250	6.1	3620
River Roşia (Romania, 0.7 m^3/s)
Roşia Montana mine (6 l/s)	0.06	0.11	6.9	0.01	14
End of study reach (8 km)	0.53	0.35	11.5	0.02	96
River Malak Iskar (Bulgaria, 0.8 m^3/s)
Etropole mine (6 l/s)	–	–	0.27	–	–
End of study reach (20 km)	–	0.01	9	–	0.51
Note: Discharge at the time of sampling is also given for mine drainage (l/s) and river water (m^3/s).

Figure 2 Metal concentrations in river water measured in the Rivers Lapuş, Someş and Tisa and selected tributaries plotted with 75/440/EEC target and imperative values for metals in surface water

Table 4 Metal and As concentrations (µg/l) in river water measured at international borders

River	Boundary	As	Cd	Cu	Pb	Zn
Someş	Romania/Hungary	5.7	0.6	4.7	6	70
Mureş	Romania/Hungary	4	<0.2	6.2	<0.2	<1
Tisa	Hungary/Serbia	2.4	<0.2	1.6	1.8	2.3
Timok	Serbia/Bulgaria	0.2	<0.2	31	<0.2	13
Iskar	Bulgaria/Romania	3.4	<0.2	4.9	<0.2	<1
Ogosta	Bulgaria/Romania	16	<0.2	<0.2	<0.2	1.2
Danube^a	Bulgaria/Romania	<0.2–5.1 (2.9)	<0.2	<0.2–9.7 (4.5)	<0.2	<1–7.5 (2.1)
^aRange of values with mean in brackets measured in 13 samples along the Bulgaria/Romania border.

Figure 3 Metal concentrations in river water measured in the River Sasar, north-west Romania, plotted with 75/440/EEC target and imperative values

Table 5 Water quality standards for selected metals and As (values in µg/l)

	75/440/EEC^a		80/778/EEC^b		2006/44/EC^c				WHO^f
	Target	Imperative	Target	Imperative	Salmonid	Cyprinid	Romania^d	Bulgaria^e	MAC^g
As	10	50	–	50	–	–	–	50	10
Cd	1	5	1	5	–	–	3	10	3
Cu	20	50	100	3000	5–112	5–112	50	100	1000
Pb	–	50	–	50	–	–	50	50	10
Zn	500	3000	100	5000	30–500	300–2000	30	5000	3000
PH		6.5–8.5		6.5–8.5	6–9	6–9	–	–	–
EC^h	1000	–	400	–	–	–	–	–	–
^aSurface water intended for drinking water abstraction.
^bQuality of water intended for human consumption.
^cQuality of freshwater for the support of fish life.
^dRomanian official norms (STAS values) for metals in surface water.
^eSurface waters intended for irrigation.
^fWorld Health Organization.
^gMaximum Admissible Concentration in surface water.
^hValues in µS/cm.

Table 6 Mean background As and metal concentrations (µg/l) and pH levels in river water from the Danube drainage basin

Catchment	pH	As	Cd	Cu	Pb	Zn
Arieş (Romania, n = 10)	8.4	0.3	<0.1	2.1	0.9	1.5
Mureş (Romania, n = 6)	8.5	2.4	<0.1	3.2	0.3	1.3
Someş (Romania, n = 7)	9.3	3.5	0.1	0.8	4.7	27
Vişeu (Romania, n = 12)	7.4	0.3	0.1	1.2	1.1	11
Iskar (Bulgaria, n = 8)	8.3	<0.1	0.2	<0.3	<0.3	<1.2
Ogosta (Bulgaria, n = 12)	7.9	7.5	<0.2	1.9	1.2	2.2
Tisa (Hungary, n = 4)	7.9	1.5	<0.1	2	<0.3	3

Figure 4 Minimum, mean and maximum metal concentrations measured river channel sediment in the River Danube and major tributaries. Data for Rivers Velika Morava and Siret adapted from Woitke et al. (2003); data for the River Sava adapted from Ščančar et al. (2007)

Figure 5 Metal concentrations in river channel sediment measured in the Rivers Lapuş, Someş and Tisa and selected tributaries plotted with US EPA TEC and PEC values for metals in freshwater sediments

Table 7 Percentage channel length where concentrations in river sediment fall below and above US EPA TEC and PEC concentrations

	Channel sediment
	<TEC	>TEC	>PEC
River Danube^a (470 km)
Cd	83	17	0
Cu	8	77	15
Pb	65	35	0
Zn	96	4	0
River Iskar (368 km)
Cd	27	48	25
Cu	27	47	26
Pb	27	43	31
Zn	42	58	0
River Ogosta (142 km)
Cd	63	38	0
Cu	14	56	29
Pb	44	17	39
Zn	96	4	0
River Mureş (630 km)
Cd	39	46	15
Cu	33	54	13
Pb	39	57	4
Zn	33	65	2
River Tisa (850 km)
Cd	34	66	0
Cu	9	91	0
Pb	36	64	0
Zn	14	65	22
River Sava^b (990 km)
Cd	94	6	0
Cu	27	73	0
Pb	40	60	0
Zn	27	73	0
^aIn Bulgarian territory.
^bData adapted from Ščančar et al. (2007).

Figure 6 Minimum, mean and maximum metal concentrations measured in floodplain sediment in the River Danube and mining-affected tributaries. Data for the River Sava adapted from Maljević et al. (2004)

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