14 nations adopt plan to clean up the Danube River and its tributaries

Danube cleanup plan adopted by 14 nations

VIENNA — Fourteen countries and the European Commission have adopted a cleanup plan for the Danube River and its tributaries.

The Danube flows 2,857 kilometers (1,775 miles) from southern Germany’s Black Forest to the Black Sea and is polluted in some parts. Some 83 million people in 19 countries live in its basin.

The Danube River Basin Management Plan adopted Tuesday aims, among other things, to reduce organic and nutrient pollution from settlements and agriculture. It also includes measures to protect and reconnect wetlands.

Participating countries are Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

The plan calls for the cleanup measures to be in place by 2015.

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On the Net:

International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River: www.icpdr.org/