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The Danube
The Danube is the second-longest European river after the Volga. Depending on the definition adopted, it is either 2,845 or 2,888 kilometres long (see Danube Springs). The Danube originates in the Black Forest. It crosses the Northern Alpine Foothills, the Pannonian Plain and the Romanian Lowlands, in the process draining large parts of Southern Central Europe and South-eastern Europe. The Danube debouches into the Black Sea in a vast delta.
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Geographic position Length of river course Danube Springs Extension of Danube Basin |
Central and South-eastern Europe 2,845 or 2,888 km Donaueschingen and Furtwangen 795,686 sq km |
Drinking water abstraction from the Danube
Along its course, the Danube serves as an important drinking water resource for approx. 10 million people. In Baden-Württemberg, the association Zweckverband Wasserversorgung supplies the entire area extending between Stuttgart, Bad Mergentheim, Aalen and the district Alb-Donau-Kreis with drinking water. Over 30% of this water (30 million cubic metres in 2004) is treated Danube water. Cities like Ulm or Passau, too, still use the Danube for a large share of their drinking water production.
Conversely, Austria produces 99% of its drinking water from groundwater and springs; water is abstracted from the Danube for drinking water purposes only very rarely, e.g. during heat waves. The same holds for Hungary, where groundwater is used to cover 91% of the drinking water demand. Due to heavy contamination, the other countries along the middle course of the river equally refrain from using Danube water for drinking water purposes. Only Romanian settlements on the Danube, which is cleaner in that region, are still largely supplied with Danube water (Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Danube Delta).
Staaten des Einzugsgebietes
The Danube flows through six countries – Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania – and is a border river for another four states: Croatia, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. In all, national borders make up 1,071 kilometres or 37% of the course of the Danube.
Important tributaries
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Right-bank tributaries |
Lech Isar Inn Enns Leitha/Schwarza Drau Save March |
D/A D/A CH/D/A A A I/A/SK/HR/H SK/HR/BiH/SR CZ/SK/A |
Length 264 km 295 km 517 km 254 km 78 km 749 km 945 km 358 km |
Chatchment 3,926 sq km 8,370 sqkm 25,700 sq km 5,940 sq km 507 sq km 11,828 sq km 95,419 sq km 27,633 sq km |
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Left-bank tributaries |
Kamp Theiß |
A UA/R/SK/H/SR |
153 km 1,308 km |
1,753 sq km 146,500 sq km |
Picture: wikipedia.at
