Technical Report: Delineation of Surface Water Bodies in the Pripyat River Basin in Belarus

European Union Water Initiative Plus for Eastern Partnership Countries (EUWI+): Results 2 and 3

ENI/2016/372-403

TECHNICAL REPORT: DELINEATION OF SURFACE WATER BODIES IN THE PRIPYAT RIVER BASIN IN BELARUS

Final Version. EUWI-EAST-BY-06; July 2019

Responsible EU member state consortium project leader

Alexander Zinke, Umweltbundesamt GmbH (AT) EUWI+ country representative in Belarus

Alexandr Stankevich (BY) Responsible international thematic lead expert

Alexander Zinke, Umweltbundesamt GmbH (AT) Georg Wolfram, independent consultant, DWS (AT) Responsible Belarusian thematic lead expert

Kanstantsin Tsitou, Central Research Institute for Complex Use of Water Resources (CRICUWR)

Authors

Kanstantsin Tsitou, Central Research Institute for Complex Use of Water Resources (CRICUWR)

Disclaimer: The EU-funded program European Union Water Initiative Plus for Eastern Partnership Countries (EUWI+ 4 EaP) is implemented by the UNECE, OECD, responsible for the implementation of Result 1 and an EU member state consortium of Austria, managed by the lead coordinator Umweltbundesamt, and of France, managed by the International Office for Water, responsible for the implementation of Result 2 and 3. This document, the “Technical Report: Delineation of Surface Water Bodies in the Pripyat River Basin in Bela- rus”, was produced by the EU member state consortium with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union or the Governments of the Eastern Partnership Countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of, or sovereignty over, any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries, and to the name of any territory, city or area.

Imprint

Owner and Editor: EU Member State Consortium Umweltbundesamt GmbH Office International de l’Eau (IOW) Spittelauer Lände 5 21/23 rue de Madrid 1090 Vienna, Austria 75008 Paris, FRANCE

Responsible IOW Communication officer: Yunona Videnina [email protected]

July 2019

Technical Report on SW Delineation - Belarus

CONTENTS

1 Summary: Description of the pripyat river basin in belarus ...... 7 2 Description of significant human pressures and current monitoring situation in the pripyat river basin in belarus ...... 11 3 Description of deliniated surface water bodies in pripyat river basin in belarus ...... 16 4 Bibliography ...... 24 5 Annexes ...... 25

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List of Tables Table 1. Typology for SWB delineation in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (System A) ...... 17

List of Figures Figure 1. Main international river basins in Belarus ...... 7 Figure 2. Digitized hydrological network of Pripyat river basin in Belarus ...... 8 Figure 3. Administrative division of Pripyat river basin in Belarus ...... 10 Figure 4. Sites of surface water monitoring in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (46 sites) ...... 11 Figure 5. Results of hydrobiological monitoring in Pripyat river basin in 2017 (blue – high status, green – good status, yellow – moderate status) ...... 13 Figure 6. Results of hydrochemical monitoring in Pripyat river basin in 2017 (blue – high status, green – good status, yellow – moderate status) ...... 13 Figure 7. Identified 78 wastewater discharges in Pripyat river basin and the volumes for 2017 in thousand cubic meters ...... 14 Figure 8. Identified 44 surface water intakes in Pripyat river basin and the volumes for 2017 in thousand cubic meters ...... 14 Figure 9. Delineated 715 SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (636 river SWB, 79 lake SWB) ...... 19 Figure 10. Types of river SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (9 types) ...... 21 Figure 11. River SWB candidates to category of “AWB and HMWB” (AWB – orange, HMWB – purple) ...... 22

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Abbreviations AWB Artificial water body CIS Common Implementation Strategy for WFD CRICUWR Republican Unitary Enterprise «Central Research Institute for Complex Use of Water Resources» EU European Union EUWI+ European Union Water Initiative Plus for the Eastern Partnership GIS Geographical Informational System HMWB Heavily modified water body IOW International office for Water, France NSEM National System of Environmental Monitoring MinEnv Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus SWB Surface water body UBA Umweltbundesamt GmbH, Austria UOM Unite of management WFD Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 Octo- ber 2000 establishing a framework for Community in the field of water policy

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List of Attachments GIS shapefiles (layers) 1) Line GIS shapefile of delineated 636 river SWB (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Zi_c_g8I0UYElDeTpw9hJXIwz0RoRA-L 2) Polygon GIS shapefile of delineated 79 lake SWB (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dpUUNnCswX6YxkbdRJQddoR1LR3f9NAM 3) Polygon GIS shapefile of Pripyat river basin catchment in Belarus (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QbJoeNoDYtpKP4Xq0MPu2IvOiet6w9ap 4) Raster map of Pripyat river basin in Belarus in the scale of 1:100000 (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1buklOU7D_63WCbojfeXXT55l19dISHEj 5) Line GIS shapefile of 509 watercourses (rivers, streams, canals) used for delineation (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zi0V_SaDVEa34zB0RYKPFI4FuQembtCi 6) Polygon GIS shapefile of lakes used for delineation (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TihsVMesMoEcMs7OsBXb5wPb52IfcMRI 7) Polygon GIS shapefile of reservoir used for delineation (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1o-LimNqJqNWKdCIQ1o5In5jDgk5rq9hH 8) Polygon GIS shapefile of ponds used for delineation (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=15kiXPiQznORG2n9TiH_tnv-zZWNMdL2E 9) Point GIS shapefile of 46 NSEP surface water monitoring sites (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=15j8QS-KUAcyiozUysYs2ftJYctyGA5FP 10) Point GIS shapefile of 78 wastewater discharges (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1snfhs71tUPmyq0vjoxiXuqLgvipoBvOd 11) Point GIS shapefile of surface water intakes (reference coordinate system - EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N; coding – UTF8) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Rwwig4dy3CgsN12bJkVhxpXrQa5O8G__

Data Sheets 1) Characterization of 636 river SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (docx file in 636 pages) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1InYzK_l5r2NJIio_ktHbzTNfrPoTsKzi 2) Characterization of 79 lake SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (docx file in 79 pages) https://drive.google.com/open?id=190Wz5qHqcCSZ7cIrsa4zOr4PXKEVIvpq 3) Characterization of 715 SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (xlsx file in 2 sheets) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ULDoFT9Btr0uUY2tGRI07S0l9XpF4kNN

Metadata All the presented GIS shapefiles (layers) and data sheets are produced by CRICUWR in 2018 for the needs of the regional project European Union Water Initiative Plus for the Eastern Partnership. Opera- tor contacts: [email protected] (Kanstantsin Tsitou) All the presented GIS shapefiles (layers) are ESRI shapefiles with geometry types of point, line, and polygon. The spatial reference system of the layers is +proj=utm +zone=35 +datum=WGS84 +units=m +no_defs; the extent of the layers in layers reference system units is xMin,yMin 319437.84,5694328.83 : xMax,yMax 716535.72,5974979.08. The accuracy of all the presented layers is corresponding the scale of 1:100000.

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1 SUMMARY: DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIPYAT RIVER BASIN IN BELARUS

This report provides a brief description of the Pripyat river basin and its main sub-basins in Belarus. Pripyat river basin is one of the five main international river basins in Belarus (figure 1). The clarified catchment areas of river basins in Belarus are the following:

 BY1 - Dnieper river basin - 67460 km², 33% of the country territory, Black Sea basin;

 BY2 - Zapadnaya Dvina river basin – 33150 km², 16% of the country territory, Baltic Sea basin;  BY3 – Zapadnyiy Bug river basin – 9990 km², 5% of the country territory, Baltic Sea basin;  BY4 – Nieman river basin – 45530 km², 21% of the country territory, Baltic Sea basin;  BY5 – Pripyat river basin – 50900 km², 25% of the country territory, Black Sea basin.

Figure 1. Main international river basins in Belarus

Pripyat river basin (BY5) is the second largest river basin in Belarus which requires the development of a separate river basin management plan regarding the actual Water Code of the Republic of Belarus. Pripyat river basin is international with Ukraine and belongs to the Dnieper river basin district – Pripyat river is the largest and the water-richest tributary of Dnieper river. Its river source is at the territory of Ukraine, then it flows to Belarus and returns back again to Ukraine. The total length of the river is 761

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km and on the territory of Belarus 495 km. The total catchment area is about 121.000 km², 55% belongs to the territory of Ukraine (70.100 km2) and 45% to Belarus (50.900 km2). It is the main waterway in the Polesie region. The whole basin belongs to the ecoregion #16 Eastern Plains. Pripyat river basin in Belarus has a dense hydrographic network (figure 2). It contains 509 defined watercourses (rivers, canals, streams) with a catchment area of more than 30 km2, and 347 defined water reservoirs (lakes and reservoirs) with a surface area of more and less than 0,5 km2. Currently, this is the maximum available level of surface water detailing for a delineation process (smaller water objects have no thematic information available and are not digitized by shapefiles in GIS).

Figure 2. Digitized hydrological network of Pripyat river basin in Belarus

The hydrographic network is composed of meandering, calmly flowing rivers, plenty of drainage canals, artificial reservoirs, ponds and swamps as well as wetlands. Pripyat river has an asymmetrical form of watershed (it is more developed on its right side). It covers the Polesie lowlands and the southern slopes of the Belarusian ridge. 30% of the catchment area are lands meliorated by drainage systems, 25% is covered by forests. The main sub-basins in the Pripyat river basin in Belarus are the following [2]:

 Pina river- a left tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 40 km and catchment area of 2235 km². The river flows from the Dnieper-Bug Canal, connecting Pripyat with the Zapadnyiy Bug river basins. The river is partially straightened and regulated by dams and ship locks;

 Yaselda river – a left tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 214 km and a catchment area 5590 km²; its watershed is not developed by big numbers of swaps and wetland;

 Styr river – a right tributary of Pripyat river transboundary with Ukraine with a length of 494 km (70 km in Belarus) and a catchment area of 13.100 km² (493 km² in Belarus); it flows into Pripyat via two different arms: Styr and Prostyr;

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 Bobrik I river - a left tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 109 km and a catchment area of 1902 km². 50% of its area is covered by forests;

 Tsna river – a left tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 120 km and a catchment area of 1310 km2; the river is meandering with a number of wetlands;

 Goryn river – a right tributary of Pripyat river is transboundary with Ukraine with a length of 659 km (90 km in Belarus) and a catchment area of 27.700 km² (650 km² in Belarus);

 Lan river – a left tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 161 km and a catchment area of 2190 km²; the river flows from Kopyl ridge to Polesie plain, the watershed is swamped and forested;

 Sluch river – a left tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 197 km and a catchment area of 5470 km²; its watershed is plane and more than 70% are covered by swamps and forests.

 Stviga river – a right tributary of Pripyat river and transboundary with Ukraine with a length of 178 km (112 km in Belarus) and a catchment area of 5300 km² (4300 km² in Belarus); its watershed is all at the Polesie plain, the river is meandering with swamped and forested areas;

 Ubort river – a right tributary of Pripyat river and transboundary with Ukraine with a length of 292 km (126 in Belarus) and a catchment area of 5820 km² (1910 km² in Belarus); its watershed is plane and not developed, the river is highly meandering;

 Ptich river – the largest left tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 421 km and a catchment area of 9470 km²; the river is highly meandering; its watershed is forested up to 35%;

 Slovechna river – a right transboundary tributary of Pripyat river with a length of 158 km (109 km in Belarus) and a catchment area of 3600 km2 (3000 km² in Belarus); its watershed is swamped and forested.

The Climate in the basin is generally moderately continental, humid with mild and wet winters. The summers are relatively cool and often rainy, especially in the second half. Autumn is often rainy, spring often with unstable weather. The instability of the weather causes a change of different air masses, cyclones and anti-cyclones. The territory of the Pripyat basin is mainly influenced by air masses of At- lantic and Arctic air. Southen tropical air masses that could reach the Polesie cause winter warmings, and summer heat and dryness. Pripyat river basin within the Republic of Belarus occupies a quarter of the entire country. The basin in Belarus covers the territory of the Brest, Gomel, Minsk and Mogilev regions as well as a small part of the Grodno region (figure 3) - 12 districts of Gomel region, 11 districts of Minsk region, 10 districts of Brest region, 3 districts of Mogilev region, 1 district of Grodno region (37 administrative districts). Agriculture activity is the main and prevailing human activity in the Pripyat river basin. About 40% of the basin territory is arable and non-arable agricultural lands. The Pripyat basin is a region of intensive hydrotechnical land reclamation and melioration. About 20% of the basin lands is drained for agricultural use. Pripyat river from Pinsk to the Ukrainian border serves as inland water way and navigable river, like the Dniepro-Bug canal and Pina river. This UOM is managed by the Brest, Gomel, Minsk and Mogilev territorial branches of MinEnv with a secretariat at the Gomel regional committee of natural resources and environmental protection

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Figure 3. Administrative division of Pripyat river basin in Belarus

Conclusions and open issues Despites that the Pripyat river basin in Belarus is studied and described at high level, the level digitalization of the hydrological network is not sufficient. Available for delineation are GIS layers of the watercourses (rivers, canals, streams) with catchment areas of more than 30 km2, and water reservoirs (lakes, reservoirs, ponds) with surface areas of more than 0,5 km2. It should be noted that before the contract implementation GIS shapefiles of water objects in the basin contained only watercourses (rivers, canals, streams) with a catchment area of more than 100 km2, and water reservoirs (lakes, reservoirs, ponds) with a surface area of more than 1 km2. 475 still missing water objects were digitized in the scope of the present assignment. However, the detailing for rivers needed for WFD (catchment areas of more than 10 km2) was not achieved. Thus the inventory of water objects in the basin with their digitalization as GIS shapefiles has to be continued in the scope of national budgeting as well as in the scope of budgeting new technical assistance initiatives of international projects.

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2 DESCRIPTION OF SIGNIFICANT HUMAN PRESSURES AND CURRENT MONITORING SITUATION IN THE PRIPYAT RIVER BASIN IN BELARUS

The current monitoring in Pripyat river basin in Belarus is providing by the National System of Environ- mental Monitoring of the Republic of Belarus (NSEM). NSEM is the complex system of observations of the state of environment driven by natural anthropogenic factors and operates the following types of environmental monitoring [3]: 1) monitoring of lands, 2) monitoring of surface water, 3) monitoring of groundwater 4) monitoring of atmospheric air 5) monitoring of ozone layer, 6) monitoring of flora, 7) monitoring of forests, 8) monitoring of flora, 9) radiation monitoring, 10) geophysical monitoring, 11) local monitoring of environment, 12) complex monitoring of ecosystems at natural reserves, 13) social-hy- gienic monitoring, 14) monitoring and forecasting of natural and technogenic emergency situations. Monitoring of surface water in the scope of NEMS is the system of regular observations of water state by hydrological, hydrochemical, hydrobiological and other parameters to identify the negative pro- cesses, forecast their development, predict their adverse consequences and define the efficiency of measures directed to rational use and protection of surface waters. The observations are provided by enterprises under the MinEnv. The surface water monitoring network in the Pripyat river basin consists of 46 monitoring sites (31 river monitoring sites, 15 water reservoirs monitoring sites) and presented at figure 4.

Figure 4. Sites of surface water monitoring in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (46 sites)

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The periodicity of observation by hydrochemical parameters at big rivers and rivers with sources of pollution is once per month annually, in the absence of sources of pollution is 7 times annually in the main hydrological phases, at reference condition rivers is monthly once per 2 years, at reference condition lakes quarterly once per 2 years. The following hydrochemical groups are measured and assessed: 1) elements of the basic salt composition, 2) physical parameters and oxygen content, 3) organic mat- ters, 4) nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), 5) metals (ferrum, copper, zinc, nickel, chromium, manga- nese, cadmium, lead), 6) mercury and arsenic at transboundary watercourses. The periodicity of observation by hydrobiological parameters in vegetation period is once per 2 years, at transboundary rivers is once per year. The hydrobiological observations cover the following commu- nities of freshwater ecosystems: 1) phytoplankton, 2) zooplankton, 3) chlorophyll-a at water reservoirs, 4) phytoperiphyton for watercourses, 5) macrozoobenthos for watercourses. Hydromorphological monitoring is just recently put into operation in the scope of scientific activities at existing monitoring sites with the periodicity of observation is once per 10 years. The following hydromorphological elements are covered: 1) quantity and dynamics of water flow, 2) connection to groundwater, 3) river continuity, 4) river depth and width variation, 5) structures and substrates of a river bed, 4) structure of the riparian zones and floodplain. The assessment of ecological state of surface water in Belarus is special system based on combination of classes of hydrobiological, hydrochemical and hydromorphological parameters with account of national indicators of water quality, the maximum permissible concentration of chemical substances in surface water, methods of bioindication based on the study of the structures hydrobiocenoses and their individual components. NB! the national system of ecological state assessment is only in the spirit of WFD approach and differs from the assessment of ecological and chemical status by WFD. The surface water monitoring results in 2017 in Pripyat river basin (hydrobiological and hydrochemical parameters) and classes of water quality by hydrobiological and hydrochemical parameters available are presented at figures 5-6 correspondingly. All the available results of surface water monitoring in Pripyat river basin (hydrobiological and hydrochemical parameters) for 2015, 2016, 2017 with assessed classes of quality by hydrobiological and hydrochemical parameters are included in separate point GIS shapefile in EPSG:32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N coordinate reference system with UTF-8 coding. Significant human pressures in the Pripyat river basin presented as 1) point sources of pressures (pollution, surface water abstraction), 2) diffuse sources of pollution and 3) hydromorphological alterations. For the purpose of the current delineation of SWB only point sources of pressures (both pollution and surface water abstraction) and hydromorphological alterations we assessed. According to the data of the State water cadaster, 78 water users in the Pripyat river basin have the discharges of wastewaters into surface waters. All of the wastewater discharges were identified on the locality and presented as separate GIS shapefiles with the volume of discharged wastewaters for 2015, 2016, 2017. The identified wastewater discharges connected with particular surface water object is presented at figure 7. According to the data of the State water cadaster, 44 water users in the Pripyat river basin have water intakes from surface water objects. All of the water intakes were identified on the locality and available as separate GIS shapefiles with the volume of surface water taken 2015, 2016, 2017 a. The identified water intakes connected with particular surface water object is presented at figure 8.

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Figure 5 Results of hydrobiological monitoring in Pripyat river basin in 2017 (blue – high status, green – good status, yellow – moderate status)

Figure 6. Results of hydrochemical monitoring in Pripyat river basin in 2017 (blue – high status, green – good status, yellow – moderate status)

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Figure 7. Identified 78 wastewater discharges in Pripyat river basin and the volumes for 2017 in thousand cubic meters

Figure 8. Identified 44 surface water intakes in Pripyat river basin and the volumes for 2017 in thousand cubic meters

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Human activity could also significantly change the natural hydrographic network. The changes usually are presented as hydrological and morphological modifications of rivers and lakes parameters as well as their catchment areas: location of sources and mouths of rivers, their length, curvature, slope, watershed parameters, the condition of runoff formation and even basin affiliation. Hydromorphological alterations in Pripyat river basin is widespread. This is agricultural river basin in lowland plain relief, so there are a lot of drainage systems used for melioration purposes. Only about 14 % of rivers (70 rivers from 509 watercourses) and 24 % of lakes (19 lakes from selected 79 water reservoirs) are in close to natural conditions. The most common types of hydrological alterations are 1) rivers canalization with channel straightening and deepening 2) flow regulations by hydraulic structures, 3) interruption of rivers continuity 4) river floodplain transformations.

Conclusions and open issues All the assessed significant human pressures in the Pripyat river basin (wastewater discharges, surface water intakes, hydrological alterations) which are able to lead to changes in ecological/chemical state (status) were considered as a criterion for current delineation of SWB. Also, these data on human pressures in the basin could be used on the further stages like “pressures and impact analysis”. However, it should be noticed that, monitoring network is designed more than 15 years ago and should be connected with actual pressures to assess their impacts. It is evident that monitoring network is not covering all the water objects with actual pressures. The desynchronization of hydrochemical and hydrobiological sam- pling and their analysis with lacking of hydromorphological assessment makes it impossible to calculate ecological state even by national system of its assessment. At present, monitoring data are not able to serve as meaningful criteria for delineation of SWB. The comprehensive suggestions on monitoring network modernization are needed for the progress in the area (sites, parameters, schedule, system of assessment of ecological / chemical state).

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3 DESCRIPTION OF DELINIATED SURFACE WATER BODIES IN PRIPYAT RIVER BASIN IN BELARUS

Delineation and characterization of SWBs in the certain river basin or river basin district is an initial keen stage for river basin management planning process in the WFD context and concludes the following practical steps [4]:

 Identification of categories of surface waters: 1) rivers, 2) lakes,3) transitional waters (not applicable in Belarus because of the landlocked character of the country) ,4) coastal waters (not applicable in Belarus because of the landlocked character of the country), 5) AFB or HMWB.

 Typology of surface waters with the account at least the following descriptors: 1) ecoregion, 2) altitude, 3) geology 4) catchment area for rivers, surface area for lakes, 5) mean depth for lakes.

 Identification of significant changes in ecological/chemical status or hydromorphology of surface waters on the basis of available monitoring data.

Delineation and characterization of SWBs process imply performing of the tasks in GIS with the submis- sion of the results in a GIS format (shapefiles). Under the present assignment, CRICUWR used open source GIS – QGIS 2.14 Essen. All the presented under assignment shapefiles are in the EPSG: 32635, WGS84/UTM zone 35N coordinate reference system with UTF-8 coding. The hydrographic network in Pripyat river basin of 509 watercourses (rivers, streams, canals) with catchment area more than 30 km2 and selected 79 water reservoirs (lakes, reservoirs, ponds) with surface area more than 0,5 km2 in a view of GIS shapefiles constitutes the initial data for the delineation of SWB (figure 2). The first stage of delineation is an identification of categories of surface waters in accordance with WFD: 1) rivers, 2) lakes, 3) candidates to AFB or HMWB. The river or lake SWB were included to the category “AWB or HMWB” as a candidate, based on a preliminary hydromorphological review in the basin in the case of presence of significant, permanent and irreversible hydrological or morphological modifications of SWB. The final decision on inclusion of specific SWB to “AWB or HMWB” category or to categories “river SWB at risk” and “lake SWB at risk” shall be made further at the stage of “pressures and impacts analysis”). Each water reservoir delineated as the one separate lake SWB (without delineation of parts of water objects). The second stage is to provide delineation in accordance to WFD Typology System A. The obligatory factors for delineation of rivers are: 1) altitude, 2) size, 3) geology; and lakes are: 1) altitude, 2) depth, 3) size, 4) geology (table 1). The typology provided with the usage of the raster maps of the national atlas of the Republic of Belarus [5], reference information and encyclopaedia data [2, 6-10] and GIS measurements [11]. The third stage is to take into account available surface water monitoring data and the data of significant human pressures in the basin, which can lead to deterioration of surface water state (ecological and chemical status / hydrobiological and hydrochemical parameters) [12]. Finally, the hydrographic network of Pripyat river basin was delineated into 715 SWB - 636 river SWB and 79 lakes SWB (figure 9). The results of SWB delineation are presented as a separate line and polygon GIS shapefiles with description according to CIS Guidance Document #9 “Implementing the GIS elements of WFD” [13].

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The attribute data of river SWB GIS layer include the following information for each identified 636 river SWB: 1) locally used name, 2) national unique code for SWB, 3) code of ecoregion to which SWB belongs, 4) type of characterization of SWB, 5) moment of insertion of SWB in the database, 6) acronym of the SWB database operator, 7) code of the river basin, 8) whether the SWB is candidate to HMWB 9) whether the SWB is candidate to AWB, 10) altitude category, 11) size category, 12) geology category, 13) length of SWB in km. The total length of all identified 636 river SWB in Pripyat river basin is more than 10121 km, the minimum – 1,0 km, maximum – 218,0 km, the average length of river SWB is 15,9 km. The proportion of Pripyat basin catchment area to the number of identified river SWB is 80 km2 per river SWB. The attribute data of lake SWB GIS layer include the following information for each from identified 79 lake SWB: 1) locally used name, 2) national unique code for SWB, 3) code of ecoregion to which SWB belongs, 4) type of characterization of SWB, 5) moment of insertion of SWB in the database, 6) acronym of the SWB database operator, 7) code of the river basin, 8) whether the SWB is candidate to HMWB 9) whether the SWB is candidate to AWB, 10) altitude category, 11) depth category 12) size category, 13) geology category 14) surface area of SWB in km. The total surface area of all identified 79 lake SWB in Pripyat river basin is almost 284 km2, the minimum – 0,04 km2, maximum – 41,14 km2, the average surface area of lake SWB is 3,60 km2. Table 1. Typology for SWB delineation in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (System A)

Ecoregion

The whole Pripyat river basin belongs to ecoregion #16 Eastern Plains (715 SWB)

Rivers (636 river SWB)

Altitude 1) high: >800 m “HIGH” (not applicable in Pripyat river basin)

2) mid-altitude: 200-800 m “MID” (only 2 river SWB)

3) lowlands: <200 m “LOW” (634 river SWB)

The physical map of Belarus was used for the descriptor.

Size 1) small: 30-100 km2 “S” (480 river SWB)

based on catchment area 2) medium: 100-1000 km2 “M” (104 river SWB)

3) large: 1000-10000 km2 “L” (34 river SWB)

4) very large: >10000 km2 “XL” (18 river SWB)

GIS instrument “Calculate area” was used for the descriptor.

Geology 1) calcareous: “C” (not applicable in Pripyat river basin)

2) siliceous: “S” (442 river SWB)

3) organic: “O” (194 river SWB)

The soil, soil-forming rocks, quaternary deposits maps of Belarus were used for the descriptor

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Lakes (79 lake SWB)

Altitude 1) high: >800 m “HIGH” (not applicable in Pripyat river basin)

2) mid-altitude: 200-800 m “MID” (only 1 lake SWB)

3) lowlands: <200 m “LOW” (78 lake SWB)

The physical map of Belarus was used for the descriptor.

Depth 1) very shallow: < 3 m “V” (46 lake SWB)

based on mean depth 2) shallow: 3-15 m “S” (33 lake SWB)

3) deep: >15 m “D” (not applicable in Pripyat river basin)

The reference, encyclopedia information was used for the descriptor.

Size 1) small: 0,5-1 km2 “S” (43 lake SWB)

based on surface area 2) medium: 1-10 km2 “M” (26 lake SWB)

3) large: 10-100 km2 “L” (10 lake SWB)

4) very large: >100 km2 “XL” (not applicable in Pripyat river basin)

GIS instrument “Calculate area” was used for the descriptor.

Geology 1) calcareous: “C” (not applicable in Pripyat river basin)

2) siliceous: “S” (40 lake SWB)

3) organic: “O” (39 lake SWB)

The soil, soil-forming rocks, quaternary deposits maps of Belarus were used for the descriptor.

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Figure 9. Delineated 715 SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (636 river SWB, 79 lake SWB)

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The following 9 types of river SWB are applicable in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (figure 10): 1. LOW-S-S: small river at lowlands in siliceous geology – 339 river SWB (53,3%); 2. LOW-S-O: small river at lowlands in organic geology – 139 river SWB (21,8%); 3. MID-S-S: small river at medium altitude in siliceous geology – 2 river SWB (0,3%); 4. LOW-M-S: medium river at lowlands in siliceous geology – 70 river SWB (11,0%); 5. LOW-M-O: medium river at lowlands in organic geology – 34 river SWB (5,3%); 6. LOW-L-S: large river at lowlands in siliceous geology – 18 river SWB (2,8%); 7. LOW-L-O: large river at lowlands in organic geology – 16 river SWB (2,5%); 8. LOW-XL-S: very large river at lowlands in siliceous geology – 13 river SWB (2,0%); 9. LOW-XL-O: very large river at lowlands in organic geology – 5 river SWB (1,0%).

The following 13 types of lake SWB are applicable in Pripyat river basin in Belarus: 1. LOW-S-V-S: small lake at lowlands very shallow in siliceous geology – 17 lake SWB (21,5%); 2. LOW-S-V-O: small lake at lowlands very shallow in organic geology – 11 lake SWB (13,9%); 3. LOW-S-S-S: small lake at lowlands shallow in siliceous geology – 7 lake SWB (9,0%); 4. LOW-S-S-O: small lake at lowlands shallow in organic geology – 7 lake SWB (9,0%); 5. MID-S-S-S: small lake at medium altitude shallow in siliceous geology – 1 lake SWB (1,2%); 6. LOW-M-V-S: medium lake at lowlands very shallow in siliceous geology – 7 lake SWB (9,0%); 7. LOW-M-V-O: medium lake at lowlands very shallow in organic geology – 4 lake SWB (5,0%); 8. LOW-M-S-S: medium lake at lowlands shallow in siliceous geology – 6 lake SWB (7,6%); 9. LOW-M-S-O: medium lake at lowlands shallow in organic geology – 9 lake SWB (11,4%); 10. LOW-L-V-S: large lake at lowlands very shallow in siliceous geology – 1 lake SWB (1,2%) 11. LOW-L-V-O: large lake at lowlands very shallow in organic geology – 6 lake SWB (7,6%); 12. LOW-L-S-S: large lake at lowlands shallow in siliceous geology – 1 lake SWB (1,2%); 13. LOW-L-S-O: large lake at lowlands shallow in organic geology – 2 lake SWB (2,4%).

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Figure 10. Types of river SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus (9 types)

The significant number of all 636 river SWB identified as candidates to AWB and HMWB due to their hydromorphological modification, namely (figure 11):

 HMWB: heavily modified river water body – 525 river SWB (82,5 %);  AWB: artificial river water body – 19 river SWB (3,0 %);  River SWB: natural river water body – 92 river SWB (14,5 %).

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Figure 11. River SWB candidates to category of “AWB and HMWB” (AWB – orange, HMWB – purple)

The significant number of all 79 lake SWB identified as candidates to AWB and HMWB due to their hydromorphological modification, namely (Annex A):

 HMWB: heavily modified lake water body – 22 lake SWB (27,8 %);  AWB: artificial lake water body – 38 lake SWB (48,2 %);  Lake SWB: natural lake water body – 19 lake SWB (24,0 %).

Conclusions and open issues The purpose of this assignment is to provide delineation and characterisation of SWB in Pripyat river basin in Belarus in account WFD requirements for further river basin management activities. The hydrographic network of the Pripyat river basin used for SWB delineation process is represented by 509 watercourses (rivers, streams, canals) with the catchment area more than 30 km2 and 79 water reservoirs (lakes, reservoirs, ponds) with the surface area more than 0,5 km2. The following 3 main criteria were used for the SWB delineation process: 1. Categorization of SWB in accordance with WFD requirements (rivers, lakes, candidates to AWB and HMWB); 2. Typology of SWB in accordance with WFD System A (altitude, size and geology typology for river SWB; altitude, size, depth and geology typology for lakes SWB); 3. The Existence of significant human pressures and surface water monitoring data (wastewater discharges, surface water intakes, hydromorphological alterations, not an achievement of a good ecological/chemical status (hydrobiological/hydrochemical parameters).

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715 SWB were delineated in Pripyat river basin in Belarus with the following description:

 636 river SWB with the average length of 15,9 km are delineated in the basin;  79 lake SWB with the average surface area of 3,60 km2 are delineated in the basin;  9 types of river SWB and 13 types of lake SWB are identified in the basin;  85,5 % of river SWB and 76,0 % of lake SWB are candidates to AWB and HMWB category;  only 14,5 % of river SWB and 26,0 % of lake SWB are in close to natural conditions.

The great amount of candidates to AWB and HMWB category is stipulated by presence of 735 operating drainage systems in the basin for land reclamation for agriculture purpose mainly. At the stage of pressures and impacts analysis every SWB should be considered precisely while assessment of hydromorphological alterations to confirm HMWB or “at risk”. The delineated 715 SWB can act as finite units of management which are necessary to achieve at least good ecological/chemical status (good ecological/chemical potential for “AWB and HMWB”). The results of SWB delineation in Pripyat river basin in Belarus could be used for further steps of river basin management plan development in accordance WFD requirements: pressures-impact analysis, risk analysis, monitoring network enhancement, environmental objectives, economic analysis and measures development.

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4 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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5. “National Atlas of Belarus”. Belcartography, Minsk, 2002, p. 145.

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13. “Implementing the Geographical Information System elements (GIS) of the Water Framework Directive”. Guidance document #9. [free web link] - https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/4786fb8a- e489-438a-8ca5-8d1762a93238/Guidance%20No%209%20- %20GIS%20%28WG%203.1%29.pdf

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5 ANNEXES Annex A Justification for SWB category “CANDIDATES TO AWB and HMWB” Annex B Characterisation of 636 river SWB in Pripyat RB in Belarus Annex C Characterisation of 79 SWB in Pripyat RB in Belarus

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