Water Quality Management: Western Experiences and Challenges for Central and Eastern European Countries

Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are undergoing fundamental political, economic, and social changes. The outcome of this transition is not yet known, and it will take two to three decades to fully realize in which direction individual CEE countries will go. As far as the situation of the environmental “degradation” in general, and water pollution in the CEE countries in particular, is concerned the heritage of the past is serious. The situation in the mid 1990s is characterized by a high level of contamination and by a multiplicity of problems caused by traditional and toxic pollutants originating from both point and nonpoint sources. The problems are both local and regional, the latter including high level of pollution of the Black Triangle, Black and Baltic Seas, and of several international rivers such as the Danube, Odra, Elbe and others. Additional problems are caused by past contamination of soils, sediments, and groundwater which may be difficult to remedy.