General Physico-Chemical determinands and Nutrients (full report)

Abstract

This chapter contains the extended discussion and dataset on the longitudinal distribution of the selected physico-chemical parameters measured in the Danube River and major tributaries during JDS3 and compares with previous outcomes from both investigative and surveillance monitoring. The ecological assessment in relation to the general physico-chemical quality standards reveals that most of the sampling sites located on the Danube River belongs to either ”high” or ”good” class, except for the dammed side arm Rackeve-Soroksar and the Iron Gates reservoir area, which fall in ”moderate” class due to the oxygen depletion. ”Moderate” class is also present in several tributaries (Morava, Tisa, Velika Morava, Jantra, Russenski Lom and Arges), caused by low oxygen saturation and dissolved nutrients forms. The comparison with the results from the JDS1 and JDS2 indicates that Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorous decreased.