The Neman River basin area supports the needs around 5 million people. About 2 million in Belarus, about 2,8 million in Lithuania and about 200 thousands in Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia.
Statistics (2002 SEPA Report) show that about 200 million cubic metres of water were abstracted from various surfaces in the Neman basin in 2000 in Belarus. During the same year, Lithuania used about 207 million cubic metres of fresh water from water sources in the basin, where as Kaliningrad Oblast used in about 34 million cubic metres.
TRANSBOUNDARY WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Many EU experts, who have worked for the last two years on the EU Tacis Neman project in Belarus, consider that the River Neman and its tributaries rank as a generally clean water system. In any case the rivers in question are much less polluted than many rivers in Western Europe, which have suffered seriously in consequence of intensive development from industry and agriculture. The Neman has been luckier in this sense. However, the same experts believe that the quality of water in the river will require long-term systemic improvements as the environmental impacts on the river are likely to increase due to continuing agricultural and industrial developments within the river basin. It is important to start planning now how to prevent the future impacts or minimise them as much as possible.
The question may arise: “Does this mean, no action is currently being taken to prevent or minimise future impacts?” It is hard to answer ‘no’. Environmental regulators in Belarus do monitor water quality and water resources, issue water abstraction and water discharge licenses, and exercise pollution control by checking compliance and imposing fines (or even prosecution) on those found in breach of compliance. However, experience shows that regulatory control on its own, however strict, is not enough to improve the water quality.
A great number of people and institutions use the River Neman. We refer, not as much, to local communities which come to the river to catch fish, have a picnic or take a dip, as to the major users of the river, the industries, which abstract water from, or discharge water to, the river. This includes farms, using water for irrigation, and also electricity producers who view the River Neman as a source of energy.
Each user, who exploits the river in one way or another, pursues their own objectives without looking too closely into likely downstream effects they create in doing so. One example is the impact of land drainage activities in the Neman basin referred to above: large-scale land drainage and peat extraction have led to a changed pattern of discharge of small rivers, which feed the major ones. This has had consequences for biodiversity, especially of birds. Other examples are given below.
In the early 1960’s, a hydroelectric scheme was built at Kaunas. Although the scheme is an important source of electricity, the dam has completely prevented migratory fish, such as Baltic sturgeon and Atlantic salmon, from going upstream. When the scheme is being operated at peak capacity, the water flow through the dam changes from 120 to 600 m3 per second in 24 hours or less, and all this produces a drastic impact on the river ecology. Apart from other things, it turned out in the 1970’s, that downstream of the dam the river level had significantly dropped. It happened for two reasons: 1) the dam intercepted the river sediments load which otherwise would have been carried downstream, and 2) sand and gravel extraction from the riverbed at the confluence of the Neman and the Neris.
Similar effects caused by sand and gravel extraction from the riverbed, have been reported in the area of Grodno. In the late 1980’s the construction industry’s demand caused the extracted amount to rise to 400 thousand tons of per annum from the Neman. As a result the river level within the boundaries of Grodno city has dropped significantly.
These examples support the fact that the purely sectoral approach is unsuitable for sustainable water resources management. Experience, gained over many years in Western Europe, shows that sustainable water resources management requires an integrated approach based on the RIVER BASIN PRINCIPLE. All the countries that are preparing themselves for accession to the EU are currently adopting this new, for them, approach to water management. The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) provides the basis for introducing this new approach.
The Neman basin is international. In each of the countries that share it environmental issues, associated with the river, are handled differently and each country uses its own approaches to water management based on their own legal framework, which may lead to a clash of interests.
For example, In Belarus, apart from the Ministry of Environment, various tasks are assigned to other institutions, such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for Emergencies, the Nuclear Energy Committee, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Housing and Public Services, as well as local authorities, public service agencies, industries and collective farms. All these have different objectives and set their own goals, and overall coordination is lacking.
Lithuania, which joint the EU in 2004, has been switching over to basin management principles in compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive. The essence of this system is that management covers a river basin as a functional unit, regarding it as the target area, instead of an Oblast or a district drawn on political lines. A long-term basin management plan covers one basin in its entirety. To discuss and approve it, – and this is very important, – representatives of ALL stakeholders, that is local authorities, environmental regulators, businesses, agriculture, water companies, river transport companies, fisheries, scientists, specialists, NGOs, etc. must always be involved
The first step toward an integrated water management plan is therefore to establish a basic document, the water knowledge base. It should include adequate scientific information concerning the hydrological cycle and associated ecosystems in the basin. Data on hydrology, geology, land use, chemical and biological pollution, and biodiversity should be included, too. For this purpose it is important to maintain a sufficient monitoring system that can provide adequate and reliable information.
The systematic review of the demand analysis will provide a picture of the resource utilization and its expected development. Also an assessment of the water use efficiency at this stage is an important tool. Another tool, the Environmental Impact Assessments of sectoral development programmes and projects are an important source of information to assess potential demand and impact on water resources.
In a third phase, an overall assessment will identify, list and prioritize the problems to be resolved and the risks to be addressed. Such tools as conflict management techniques could usefully be integrated in this activity, to solve for example conflicts between upstream and downstream users.
Only by using this approach, can a clash of interests between stakeholders be avoided, the right priorities be set, and a long-term strategy be developed to ensure that all the river basin countries’ economic and social welfare is promoted on an equitable basis and with a minimum pressure on key ecosystems.
In conclusion
Regardless of any changes to the political map of Europe, the River Neman will remain within its current boundaries, which have been there for thousands of years. The Neman will continue to flow in the same direction, rising on the Minsk Highland and ending in the Baltic Sea, forever… and no other Neman shall we have.
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