Report on Achievements in Flood Protection in the Danube River Basin Document number: IC-159 Version: 2010 Date: 22-Nov-2010 ICPDR / International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River / www.icpdr.org Imprint Published by: ICPDR – International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River © ICPDR 2010 Contact ICPDR Secretariat Vienna International Centre / D0412 P.O. Box 500 / 1400 Vienna / Austria T: +43 (1) 26060-5738 / F: +43 (1) 26060-5895 [email protected] / www.icpdr.org ICPDR / International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River / www.icpdr.org Table of content 1 Introduction 4 2 Development and Improvement of Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System 6 2.1Danube EFAS 6 2.2Report on Assessment of Flood Monitoring And Forecasting in the Danube River Basin 6 3 Preparation of flood action plans in sub-basins 7 4 Major achievements in flood risk management in Danube countries 7 4.1Existing framework for transboundary cooperation 7 4.2Major developments in flood risk management 9 4.2.1Germany – Bavaria & Baden-Wuerttemberg 9 4.2.2Austria 10 4.2.3Czech Republic 12 4.2.4Slovakia 18 4.2.5Hungary 22 4.2.6Slovenia 24 4.2.7Croatia 26 4.2.8Serbia 29 4.2.9Bosnia and Herzegovina 31 4.2.10Romania 35 4.2.11Bulgaria 37 4.2.12Ukraine 39 5 Creating Forums for Exchange of Expert Knowledge 42 5.1Document on Coordination aspects of EFD implementation in the Danube River Basin 42 5.2Other information sources 43 6 Recommendation for a common approach in assessment of flood-prone areas and evaluation of flood risk 43 6.1Status review and report of flood mapping and flood risk evaluation in the sub-basins and countries of the Danube River Basin 43 6.2Minimum recommendations for flood risk mapping in the Danube River Basin 44 6.3FLOODRISK project 44 7 Other activities 45 7.1Danube 2006 floods report 45 7.2Flood factsheet 2010 46 8 Conclusions 47 ICPDR / International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River / www.icpdr.org Report on Achievements in FP 4 1 Introduction In response to the danger of flooding and in line with its Joint Action Programme, the ICPDR decided in 2000 to establish the long-term Action Programme for Sustainable Flood Prevention in the Danube River Basin. The whole process was accelerated after disastrous floods in 2002 and resulted in adoption of the Action Programme at the ICPDR Ministerial Meeting on 13 December 2004. This Action Programme is based on the sustainable flood protection programmes developed in the various Danube countries as well as on networking existing structures and using the future-oriented knowledge base accumulated through a wide range of activities over the past decade. The overall goal of the Action Programme is to achieve a long term and sustainable approach for managing the risks of floods to protect human life and property, while encouraging conservation and improvement of water related ecosystems. Given the area, the complexity and the internal differences in the Danube River Basin, the Action Programme represents an overall framework, which needs to be specified in further detail for sub-basins. The Action Programme is based on UN-ECE Guidelines on Sustainable Flood Prevention, EU Best Practices on Flood Prevention, Protection and Mitigation and on EU Communication on flood risk management, COM(2004)472. The major principles advocated are: (i) the shift from defensive action against hazards to management of the risk and living with floods (ii) the river basin approach taking into account the Water Framework Directive, (iii) joint action of government, municipalities and stakeholders towards flood risk management and awareness raising, (iv) reduction of flood risks via natural retention, structural flood protection and hazard reduction, and (v) solidarity. Targets of the Action Programme are set on a basin-wide and a sub-basin level taking into account the above-mentioned principles. There are four major basin-wide targets, which are currently under implementation: (i) Improvement of flood forecasting and early flood warning system Interlinking of the national and/or regional systems aims to improve the overall coordination and transboundary coherence of flood monitoring and forecasting systems. In parallel to interlinking of national systems a Danube Flood Alert System was developed by the EC JRC and was launched in December 2007. (ii) Support for the preparation of and coordination between sub-basin-wide flood action plans The ICPDR is a coordination platform for preparation of flood action plans for the river sub- basins. Steps towards linking of flood risk management with the river basin management have been done in cooperation with the river basin managers in the Danube countries. (iii) Creating forums for exchange of expert knowledge Measures should be taken towards sharing of experience and coordinated development and promotion of best practices on flood risk management. Exchange of relevant information on flood protection, prevention and mitigation with the other international river commissions is foreseen. (iv) Recommendation for a common approach in assessment of flood-prone areas and evaluation of flood risk The overall approach of the EU Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks towards flood risk mapping is coherent with the basic principles described in the ICPDR Action Programme on Sustainable Flood Protection in the Danube River Basin. ICPDR / International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River / www.icpdr.org Report on Achievements in FP 5 In September 2007 a Directive of the European parliament and of the Council on the assessment and management of flood risks was finally adopted by the European Council. The aim of the Directive is to reduce and manage the risks that floods pose to human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity. The Directive requires Member States to first carry out a preliminary flood risk assessment by 2011 to identify areas at risk of flooding. For such areas they would then need to draw up flood risk maps by 2013 and establish flood risk management plans focused on prevention, protection and preparedness by 2015. The Directive applies to inland waters as well as all coastal waters across the whole territory of the EU. The Directive shall be carried out in coordination with the Water Framework Directive, notably by flood risk management plans and river basin management plans being coordinated, and through coordination of the public participation procedures in the preparation of these plans. All assessments, maps and plans prepared shall be made available to the public. Member States shall furthermore coordinate their flood risk management practices in shared river basins, including with third counties, and shall in solidarity not undertake measures that would increase the flood risk in neighbouring countries. Member States shall take into consideration long term developments, including climate change, as well as sustainable land use practices in the flood risk management cycle addressed in this Directive. The adoption of the EU Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks (EFD) has its impact also on the implementation of the ICPDR Action Programme on Sustainable Flood Protection in the Danube River Basin both in terms of technical content and the implementation time plan, given that the ICPDR Action Programme itself foresees incorporating the future developments of the EU flood policy. In 2009 the ICPDR published 17 sub-basin flood action plans covering the entire Danube catchment. This was a key milestone set in the ICPDR Action Programme for Sustainable Flood Prevention but also an important step in a harmonized implementation of the EFD in the Danube River Basin District. This Report provides the stakeholders and public with an overview of the achievements in implementation of the targets of the ICPDR Action Programme on Sustainable Flood Protection in the Danube River Basin with a particular attention given to the progress made in the sub-basins in implementation of the action plans as well as of the EU Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks. Report on Achievements in Flood Protection in the Danube River Basin is structured according to the four basin-wide targets of the ICPDR Flood Action Programme and it is a living document, which will be updated regularly with a view of demonstrating to the wide target audience the efforts made and the progress achieved in the Danube River Basin in the field of flood risk management. ICPDR / International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River / www.icpdr.org Report on Achievements in FP 6 2 Development and Improvement of Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System 2.1 Danube EFAS The European Flood Alert System (EFAS) is being developed at the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) with support of the national meteorological services and national hydrological services (NHS). As to date, around 25 operational authorities across Europe, all together responsible for more than 85% of the major trans-national river basins, are receiving EFAS information as early flood warning reports for floods in the next 3-10 days. As for the Danube countries EFAS Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) have been signed with DE, AT, CZ, SK, HU, SI, RS, RO, BG and MD. Recently HR joined as well. Negotiations on membership are ongoing with UA and BA. EFAS-Danube members have 24/7 access to a protected web-server where the twice-daily EFAS forecasts can be examined and viewed (http://efas-is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/efas-forecasting.html ). In 2010, using further data received from several institutes within the Danube, the calibration of the 5km grid hydrological model version has been redone. Furthermore, EFAS uses now also ensemble weather forecasts from COSMO-LEPS, which enables higher-resolution forecasts until 5 days before a flood event, more focussed towards flash flood forecasting.