UNUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Press Releases 1997

[Index]

A UN/ECE CONVENTION AT WORK
BELARUS, POLAND, AND UKRAINE PLEDGE TO PROTECT THE RIVER BUG

6 June 1997

Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine have just concluded an historic multilateral agreement at the United Nations Office at Geneva, vowing to work together to protect the River Bug, which is increasingly threatened by pollution.

The Bug marks the border between Poland and Ukraine and between Poland and Belarus. Its water resources are particularly important to the 2.5 million people who live in its catchment area. Indirectly, the City of Warsaw also largely depends on the River Bug for its water supply. In recent years agricultural activity in its basin has intensified, especially in Belarus, where other regions can no longer be used for agriculture as a result of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. The growth in agriculture means higher levels of pesticide and herbicide pollution in the basin's groundwater and surface water. But near industrial cities the quality of the Bug's water is also threatened by excessive levels of heavy metals, organic nutrient and phosphorus. Inadequate sewer systems and waste-water treatment add to the problem, especially in the dry season. Both the upper and the lower reaches of the Bug are affected by pollution.

The riparian countries are concerned that the Bug's water resources will soon come under so much pressure that the needs of the water users can no longer be met. In an effort to avert such a disaster, Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine have decided to implement the Guidelines on water-quality monitoring and assessment of transboundary rivers, These Guidelines are set out in Protection of Transboundary Waters: Guidance for Policy- and Decision-making, Water Series No. 3, November 1996 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.II.E.25) drawn up within the framework of the UN/ECE Convention of the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, which came into force last October. It is particularly noteworthy that the three countries have decided to cooperate under the UN/ECE Convention since none of them is yet a party to it, although Poland and Ukraine have already signed it.

As a result of this agreement, Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine will harmonize their methodologies for drawing up inventories of the abstraction and use of water resources. They will also jointly monitor the volumes of waste water discharged into the Bug and assess the amounts of pollution from point sources and from diffuse sources. In the past such monitoring was done individually by the three countries. Each had its own national monitoring methodology and network. And although Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine already collaborated bilaterally to protect their transboundary waters, it is the first time that they have agreed to work on a multilateral basis. By working together under this agreement the three countries hope to attract funds from donor countries and organizations to finance joint monitoring and assessment projects.