The Assessment of the Danube River Water Pollution in Serbia

Actual problems of water ecosystem pollution require the ecological classification and the identification of the most influential parameters on the variability of water quality, stressing the importance of both in the realization of the sustainable water management principles according to the Water Framework Directive European Union (WFD EU), and the preservation of the quality of the environment. The aim of this paper was the assessment of the ecological status of water quality and calculating water pollution index (WPI) of the Danube River in Serbia. For all surface waters, the WFD requires “good ecological status,” i.e., low level changes of the natural state that occur as a result of human activities by 2015. The assessment was based on the data obtained from ten hydrological measuring stations on the Danube River in Serbia for 2014. It was ascertained that the ecological status of the Danube River water quality was class III, corresponding to “moderate ecological status” and deviating from the required “good ecological status.” According to the calculated WPI = 1.352, the water pollution of the Danube River in Serbia was characterized as moderately polluted and corresponded to class III of surface water. The ecosystem approach clearly indicated that the concentration of physico-chemical parameters of the watercourse deviated from the target values. Therefore, there is an urgent need to take some measures to prevent pollution and improve the water quality of the Danube River as an integral part of the environment in Serbia.