Mapping the Danube River and Impacts of the Gabcikovo Water Project
CE394K GIS in Water Resources Term Project Report
Kristi Shaw
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Texas at Austin
Danube River (Slovakia)
Danube River (Austria)
Danube River after NATO Bombing (Belgrade, Yugoslavia)
-Background
-Purpose
Danube River (Germany)
Background
The Danube River basin is arguably the most important river in Europe. It is the chief river of central and southeast Europe, providing a navigable water body for trade and drinking water source for many cities and small communities along the Danube. The Danube is approximately 2850 kilometers long and transverses or forms borders of nine countries, which are Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine, prior to entering the Black Sea. This dynamic river has been the chief factor of war and peace, protection and preservation, and economic prosperity. For this reason, the Danube River was selected as the topic for my term project and presentation.
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to develop an accurate shapefile of the Danube
River including major tributaries, obtain station data with regards to flow,
compare data projections, and create a river network of the Danube River
basin. Finally, an evaluation of Gabcikovo Water Project (including a dam
and hydroelectric power stations) will be conducted and the effects on the
Danube River will be displayed. The Gabcikovo Dam has been heavily
disputed between Slovakia and Hungary for over two decades. The European
Commission has intervened in an attempt to settle the dispute through
compromise. In 1988, the modified Gabcikovo Water Project was completed
and commenced operation.
Digital Elevation Model (obtained from USGS Hydro-1)
Note: DEM ranges from 3000+ meters (white) to 1000-1500 meters (gray) to 0-500 meters (black)
Data Acquisition
| Data Source | Data Obtained |
| Digital Chart of the World | land coverages, river/stream coverages |
| University of New Hampshire/GRDC Global Composite Runoff Data Set (v 1.0) | world basin geometric coverages (specifically the Danube Basin) |
| Global River Discharge Database (RivDis 1.1) | monitoring station data along the Danube River |
| USGS EROS Data Center Hydro1K Elevation Derivative Database | Europe DEM |
| Europe Atlas CD 2000 |
Major Tributaries, Danube River |
Land coverage files (ponet) and river/stream network files (dnnet) for six countries were obtained from Digital Chart of the World, which representing the current coverage of all eight countries involved in the Danube River basin. Since the coverages had not been updated to reflect current political boundaries, Romania incorporated Bulgaria and the Ukraine and Croatia was included with Yugoslavia. The coverages were converted to shapefiles and used geographic coordinate system in decimal degrees.
For comparison, a geometric network for the Danube river basin was obtained from University of New Hampshire (UNH) / Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) Potential Simulated Topological Networks using a 30 minute spatial grid system for the entire world. Additionally, the Danube river and tributaries shapefiles were provided by Europe Atlas 2000. The tributaries included in Europe Atlas 2000 were as follows (presented in the order of upstream to downstream): Morava, Mura, Drava, Tisza, Mures, Sava, Olt, Siret, and Prut. As seen below, there were data omissions that prevented the tributaries from connecting to the Danube River (ie Tisza River). Since the tributary information was only intended to serve as a guide to identify the location of the tributaries, it did not pose a problem. However, the Inn River, later designated as a major tributary, was not available and therefore the location was determined using the Digital Chart of the World river network shapefile and latitude/longitude coordinates of the Inn River.
According to The Danube: A River Basin in Transition, the major tributaries of the Danube are the Inn, Morava, Mura, Drava, Sava, Tisza, Mures, Olt, Siret, and Prut. By using the major tributaries from Europe Atlas 2000 as a guide and information regarding the location of the Inn River, all unrelated rivers were removed from the Dnnet (arc) shapefile in Arc View 3.2 using the start editing tool. Using the Geoprocessing feature, the river themes from each country were merged into one theme.
Editing Geoprocessing
After the Danube River and all major tributaries were selected, Arc Info 8.0 was used to determine network connectivity. In Arc Info 8.0, a personal geodatabase was created and followed with a new feature dataset, specifying the projection in Geographic Coordinates GCS_WGS_1984. The Merge1.shp coverage was converted to a geodatabase entitled Danube1 and two sinks were added at the outlet (location indicated below with a green box). Finally the Geometric Network Wizard was used specifying the recently created geodatabase, Danube1, and indicating the outlet as a sink. This process created a Danubegeo_junctions shapefile which was used to assist in connecting the river network. There were several weaknesses (omissions) in the Danube River network that required editing. The zoom feature was used to enlarge a specific area and check for gaps. The start editing function was selected and lines were used to connect Danubegeo_junctions that were otherwise not connected. After each segment was completed, a trace task was performed to display connectivity. A flag was placed at the sink and the trace task: find connected was selected. The procedure of editing river segments continued until the network system was completely connected (image displayed below).
The Export to Shapefile function was then used to convert to a shapefile that could be retrieved using Arc View 3.2. The following view was created within Arc View 3.2.
The Danube River station data was obtained from UNH RivDis 1.1. The UNH RivDis 1.1 is a publically available database of flow data across the world. Unfortunately, it is rarely updated and the operators indicated that there are difficulties obtaining the data from the station operators, especially in Eastern Europe. The most complete, updated station data was available for 1984. Although there are many stations along the Danube, the monitoring times vary and therefore cannot be easily compared. Seven river stations were selected along the Danube River at Hofkirchen, Germany; Bratislava, Slovakia; Nagymaros, Hungary; Bezdan, Hungary; Bogojevo, Hungary; Drobeta-Tru, Romania; and Ceatal Izmail, Ukraine. The Danube River (excluding tributaries) and stations were projected in GCS_WGS_1984. The image below indicates Danube stations (large red dots) and other nearby stations (green dots) where data is available. Although the river and stations had similar projections, the stations did not line up exactly on the river. Therefore, the stations were edited in Arc View 3.2 to bring them closer to the Danube.
Using the available flow data, many comparisons can be made. Below are examples of such comparisons.
Danube River Stations and Elevations
Danube River Stations with December 1984 Flow Rates (m3/sec)
Danube River Stations (Min Flow Rate, Station Name, Max Flow Rate)
Note: Data Collected from 1920-1984 (in most cases)
The Gabcikovo Water Project was proposed to reside along the Danube River between Slovakia and Hungary. One of the chief purposes of the project was to generate electricity for Slovakia and Hungary by implementing hydro-electric power stations. In 1977, an international treaty was signed by Slovakian and Hungarian prime ministers, parliament, and presidents to support the construction of the Gabcikovo Water Project. The original proposal included a large reservoir, diversion canal, two dams, a by-pass canal, and hydro-electric power plan.
Original Gabcikovo Water Project (span 100 miles)
Original Danube River
Original Danube River (with Gabcikovo Water Project-presented in light blue)
Hungary later decided to abandon involvement in the project due to environmental statements and fear of international boundary shifts and trading tariff threats. During the negotiation process several key issues were addressed including flooding of reaches not previously affected, the drying up of reaches within Hungary, poor water quality, etc. As a compromise Variant C (limited from 100 miles to 30 miles) was proposed by Slovakia which required that the entire Gabcikovo Water Project reside on Slovakian land and was limited to the following: reservoir, one dam, hydro-electric power stations, and two navigable locks. Slovakia began construction of Variant C in July 1991.
In Arc View 3.2, the town of Gabcikovo was provided by Europe Atlas 2000. The shapefile was added in addition to the water body file which shows the result of the Gabcikovo Water Project along the Danube River.
Gabcikovo Navigable Locks (the Hydro-Electric Power Plants are to the left)
As a requirement in the approved Variant C, Slovakia had to guarantee a 95% minimum flow rate along the original Danube. This stipulation has been difficult to determine due to historic fluctuations and likewise has been difficult to enforce. Hungary claims that several areas that previously recorded flows of 2000 m3/s are now reporting levels of less than 200 m3/s. Hungary has cited decreased water levels and fears drinking water contamination as a result of reduced flow increasing deposits of polluted clay in drinking water wells.
On the other hand, Slovakia has received nearly 2 billion KWH electrical energy each year, which supplies electricity to nearly 10% of the entire population of Slovakia. Also, Slovakia has noted replenishing of river reaches that were previously dry (photos included below).
Prior to Gabcikovo Project Post-Gabcikovo Project
The Danube River was projected and connected successfully using Arc View 3.2 and Arc Info 8.0. There were several set-backs that I encountered during this project, such as, the lack of current flow data to compare quantitative differences as a result of the Gabcikovo project, lack of scientific evidence available regarding the effects of the Gabcikovo project, and difficulties in obtaining information regarding the Gabcikovo Project as a result of language barriers.
The Gabcikovo River Project has both benefits and detriments depending on which side of the fence you are on. There have been both economic and environmental benefits and short-comings. Primarily there were political motivations behind all information published that I obtained, therefore it is difficult to provide a scientific evaluation when very limited science has been published.
Murphy, Irene. The Danube: A River Basin in Transitition, 1997
Digital Chart of the World (http://www.maproom.psu.edu/cgi-bin/dcw/dcwarea.cgi?Europe)
University of New Hampshire/GRDC Global Composite Runoff Data Set (v 1.0) (http://www.grdc.sr.unh.edu/)
Global River Discharge Database (RivDis 1.1) (http://www.rivdis.sr.unh.edu/)
USGS EROS Data Center Hydro1K Elevation Derivative Database (http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/gtopo30/hydro/)
Europe Atlas CD 2000