CONTRIBUTION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA TO THE CHEMICAL TIME BOMBS STUDY IN THE DANUBE CATCHMENT-AREA

An overview is given of the activities of Czecho-Slovak institutes wit hin the project 'Long-term risks for soils, sediments and groundwater in the Danube catchment area,' as accepted in 1991 by six riparian cou ntries from the Danube basin. The project is divided into: screening m aps, analytical methodology; (bio)monitoring; use of geographical info rmation systems (GIS) for data storage and presentation of results; so il vulnerability studies; modelling of processes; and case studies. Tw enty-six tasks are listed, together with authors and addresses of co-o perating organizations included in the Czecho-Slovakian project. In th e initial stages information was gathered to produce maps of hot-spots in the Czecho-Slovakian territory of the Danube catchment area. A lis t of landfill sites is almost ready; surface water pollution for the D anube itself and for the Hron tributary has been evaluated and some pr oposals for the presentation of the results have been considered. The methodological part of the project summarizes the analytical methods f or the groundwater study. Base levels and standards for the comparison of quality have been completed. At present the Water Research Institu te is planning to process the results using ILWIS (Integrated Land and Water Information System), which is distributed by ITC (Enschede, The Netherlands) and VITUKI (Hungary). Some administrative and budgetary aspects of the task are considered and the acute need for closer inter national cooperation is emphasized.