Objectives: To initiate and/or improve bilateral and multilateral co-operation, leading To institutional strengthening and capacity building under the Convention. To prepare effective and efficient monitoring and assessment programmes which are sustainable in the specific economic contexts of the countries concerned. To support approximation to European Union environmental legislation in CEEC countries.

1. BUG PROJECT
Information as a basis to
establish transboundary
cooperation: The experience
of the Bug Pilot Project
Małgorzata Landsberg-Uczciwek
Voivodeship Inspectorate of Environmental Protection in Szczecin
Teresa Zań
Regional Water Management Board in Warsaw

2. The Bug River basin is
situated in the north-west part
of Ukraine, south-western
Belarus and the central-
eastern part of Poland and is
within the Baltic Sea
catchment area. The total
area of the Bug basin is
39.4 thousand km2
, which is
19.3% of the Vistula basin.

3. The area of the basin
belongs to the different
administrative regions
in each country.
Ukraine – 27.4%,
Belarus – 23.4%,
Poland – 49.2 %
of total area.

4. Transboundary co-operation in the basin
In the agreement between Poland and the USSR on
co-operation in water management (1964), the countries
established monitoring networks on the bordering part of
the river Bug.
Before 1992

5. After 1992
Ukraine
The agreement between the Governments of the Republic
of Poland and Ukraine on co-operation in the field of water
management on rivers crossing their mutual border
(Kiev, October 10, 1996).
Belarus
The agreement between the Ministry of Environmental
Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry of Poland, and
the State Committee of the Belarus Republic for Ecology,
on co-operation in the field of environmental protection
(May 20, 1992).

6. Polish-Ukrainian Committee for Co-operation in the Field
of Boundary Waters :
• a working group for planning,
• a working group for protection against pollution,
• a working group for flood protection, river regulation
and land melioration,
• a working group for hydro-meteorology and hydro-
geology,
• a working group for accidental pollution control.

7. Pilot Project
• The Pilot Project under the UNECE Water
Convention started in January 1997
and finished in May 2003.
• The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
was signed in 1997.

8. • to demonstrate the implementation of the UNECE
Guidelines on Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment
of Transboundary River;
• to initiate and/or improve bilateral and multilateral
co-operation, leading to institutional
strengthening and capacity building under the
Convention;
• to prepare effective and efficient monitoring and
assessment programmes which are sustainable
in the specific economic contexts of the
countries concerned;
• to support approximation to European Union
environmental legislation in CEEC countries.
Pilot Project - objectives

9. Project realization

10. Importance of inception phase
• Important part of the information exchange has
started:
- the very first approach to the common
understanding of the transboundary river basin
management, problems/issues in the Bug basin
and quality of water (new for each country),
- learning about water policy and willingness to
use European Union legislation (important for
Poland),
- political and institutional structure of water
management in each country.

11. Inception phase - lessons learnt
• Necessity to make enough available time
for good understanding of the Project.
The river basin approach, integrated water
management, environmental issues and
concerns, the principle of public
participation.
• Invitation for the right institution and right
people for cooperation (administrative division
and political structure).

12. Identification and review of water
management issues
• Legislation, national strategy plans and
water policy (function/uses, problems/issues
– information needs)
The area of the Bug River basin is covered
by three riparian countries with different
political and economic systems. Poland was
in the process of accession to the EU,
Ukraine adapts its legislation to the laws of
the European Council, while Belarus uses a
separate legislative system.

13. Identification and review of water
management issues
• The key steps to formulate information
needs are:
- identifying functions/uses and
problems/issues of the Bug basin water
and
- relations between the functions of the
basin, the utilisation of the water and the
problems occurring in the basin.

14. Functions and uses of the Bug basin water
(inventory+policy))
Water
use/function
Belarus Poland Ukraine Common concern
surface
waters
ground
waters
surface
waters
ground
-waters
surface
waters
ground
-waters
surface
waters
ground-
waters
Ecological
function + ++ ++ ++
Drinking water
supply o + ++* ++ o + ++* ++
Industrial water
supply o ++ o ++ o + o ++
Agriculture
+ + ++ o + + ++ +
Fish farms
o o + o + o + o
Recreation and
angling + ++ + + ++
Transport of
sewage ++ ++ ++ ++
(++) accordingly important, (+) moderately important and (O) not important of water uses

15. Relations between the functions of the basin, the utilisation of the water and
the problems occurring in the basin (inventory, policy and experts assessment)
Problems Use/Functions
Ecological
function
Supply of
drinking
water*
Agri-
culture**
Fish-
farms
Recreati
on and
angling
Supplies
for the
industry**
Transport
medium
including
sewage
Impact on
Zegrzyns
kie Lake
Pollution by
nutrients and
eutrophication
+++ +++
***
+ +++ + + +++
Microbiological
pollution
+ ++ + + +++ + +++
Organic pollution +++ ++ + + +++ +
Accidental pollution + + + + + + +
High variability of
flows
+ + +
Flood hazard River
regulation, damming
and draining
+ + + + + + +
Pollution by toxic
substances
+ + + + + +
accordingly moderately not important as common concern

16. Identification and review of water
management issues – lessons learnt
• Difficulties to agree upon the most
important,functions/uses of the Bug River water
(ecological?),
• problems/issues - differences in common understanding
of water quality,
• Identifying the reasons for the problems (lack of proper
data),
• common criteria for assessment due to differences in
legislation and technical possibility of labs.

17. Report No. 3 deals with the information needs, selection of
indicative parameters and a critical evaluation of the existing
monitoring programmes in view of fitness for purpose.
INVENTORY
of available information
SURVEYS
if information is lacking
Identification of
USES/FUNCTIONS
CRITERIA/TARGETS
for functions/uses and issues
WATER LEGISLATION
including classification systems
ANALYSIS OF WATER
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
INFORMATION
NEEDS
STRATEGIES
for monitoring and assessment
RECOMMENDATIONS
for improvement

18. Information on the Bug River basin scale
The Report No. 2 - Identification and Review of Water
Management Issues - can be regarded as the first step in
the development of a River Basin Management Plan.
It describes the river basin, the functions and uses of the
river and its tributaries, the actual quality status
compared to the requirements of the functions and the
main problems and causes identified from this
comparison.
ACHIEVEMENTS

19. ACHIEVEMENTS
Awareness of the information meaning
• The execution of the inventory stage has
made aware the people responsible for water
quality assessment, that getting information
is one of the weakest points of
the management process.
• The necessity to collect and process data
from different sectors of economy by river
basins has arisen.

20. ACHIEVEMENTS
Closer to the EU legislation
• Most of the methods and standards used in
the Pilot Project and set in
the Recommendation Report are based on
the regulations of the European Union.

21. Practical implementation of co-operation
Surveys and field trips
• Joint study trips, samplings, workshops and
discussions bring the co-operating people closer
together within the countries as well as internationally.
This enhances the quality of co-operation.
ACHIEVEMENTS

22. Practical implementation of co-operation
Surveys and field trips
• The first data exchange between Poland, Ukraine
and Belarus conceived on such a large scale which
also includes data relevant for water management
analysis.
Exchange of data
ACHIEVEMENTS

23. • The proposal of the trilateral agreement
on co-operation in transboundary waters,
• Polish-Ukrainian-Belorusian working group on
the implementation of the Pilot Project,
• The Pilot Project on implementation of the UNECE
guidelines for groundwaters,
• Acceptation of the Report No. 3 by Polish-Ukrainian
Committee for Co-operation in the Field of Boundary
Waters.
Perspective of further co-operation
ACHIEVEMENTS

24. • Respect the differences in legislative systems
and levels of making particular decisions and
ralities which limit co-operation between
countries.
How to organise co-operation practically
Practical implementation of co-operation
Surveys and field trips
ACHIEVEMENTS

25. • Lack of a trilateral agreement forming the legal
basis of the Early Warning System.
• Transboundary information collection and
exchange system.
• Assessment of diffuse pollution, risk assessment
and toxicological examinations were not
performed according to the reference
conditions of the Pilot Project.
Which tasks have not been completed?

26. Summary
The realization of the Pilot Project for the Bug River
basin opens a new chapter in the transboundary co-
operation between Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. This
co-operation covers the whole river basin and its basic
assumption is the close relationship between
monitoring and assessment and water management.

27. Summary
It is crucial that the Pilot Project will be implemented
immediately after its completion. This will ensure
that recent experiences are used in routine
monitoring. However the full implementation of the
proposed changes can be difficult because of
financial constraints, therefore this implementation
should be gradual but constant.

29. Thank you for your attention