Demo sites
What is a demo site?
iNNO SED aims to showcase effective and sustainable sediment management solutions, that extend from mountainous areas to coastal regions. This will be achieved using a series of eight Demonstration Sites. The selected sites will include various types of rivers with distinct hydrological and sediment features, focussing on the Danube, all the way to the Black Sea.
The river sites will include small, medium, and large ones, and those that are dominated by gravel and sand. These sites have been strategically distributed across the Danube River Basin (DRB) to ensure geographical diversity. Among the eight sites, six will involve the physical implementation of measures, while the remaining two will be managed using a Digital Twin (DT) approach.
This approach is necessary for these sites due to their extensive scale and complex sediment nature.
Learn more about each demo site:
Demo site 1:
Iller River
Germany
Problem:
The Iller, a major tributary of the Danube River, represents a heavily hydropower-regulated site where dynamic sedimentary transport processes are disrupted, impacting the habitat availability and quality for key freshwater species.
Response:
Integration of sediment monitoring through innovative tools; implementation of sediment measurements and reservoir operations and assessment of their efficiency to reestablish sediment dynamics. Both field-based and hydrodynamic modelling assessments will be used to improve measures and inform future solutions. Stakeholder involvement will play a crucial role in the implementation stage, and its success will lie on the well- established stakeholder involvement structures in the region, such as the Steering Committee for the Iller Strategy, and past European projects such as the LEW-led LIFE Isobel Program.
Partners: TUM and LEW.
Stakeholders: Municipalities, water authorities, fisheries associations, local environmental education center.
Demo site 2:
Danube River at Aschach
Austria
Problem:
Sediment continuity along impoundments in Upper Austria is interrupted, and sedimentation occurs. A pre-condition for ecologically oriented measures according to ecologists is that the water level is not lowered as this could lead to erosion of the structures.
On the other hand, sedimentation of fine material occurs and negatively impacts or prohibits ecological benefits, including sediment quality.
Response:
Measures will be developed that improve the sediment continuity for particles smaller than fine gravel; minimize the sedimentation at the ecological structures but do not erode the structures while avoiding further accumulation and remobilization of sediment-bound pollution (sediment quality). These solutions could be upscaled to other impoundments of Upper Austria.
Partners: BOKU and Viadonau.
Stakeholders: Hydropower companies, waterway authorities, ministries, water authorities, ecologists.
Demo site 3:
SK-HU Danube section
Slovakia and Hungary
Problem:
The common SK-HU section of the Danube is exposed to bed incision due to decreased sediment input from upstream caused by the nearby hydropower plant (HPP) and increased sediment transport capacity caused by river regulation measures. Lowering riverbed causes navigational issues, lowering groundwater levels and disconnection of side branches/floodplains.
Response:
Better understanding of sediment processes with data analysis and modelling; Co- development and selection of optimal measure through stakeholder involvement, business modelling, technical planning; Implementation, monitoring, impact assessment.
Partners: OVF, BME, VUVH and WWF.
Stakeholders: Water authorities, national parks, waterway authorities, local communities.
Demo site 4:
Drava River at Barcs
Croatia and Hungary
Problem:
The Drava River, a significant Danube tributary, spans a trans-boundary alpine-to-lowland region. This site is exposed to sedimentation and is pollution pathway-oriented from the upstream Drava Basin to its discharge into the Danube. Predominant metal contamination in river and floodplain sediments stems from historic mining and industrial activities, combined with the area’s natural geochemical background. Diffuse pollution from agricultural pesticides and fertilizers is also present.
Response:
Innovative and integrated sediment quantity and quality monitoring (WFD: operational monitoring) using time-integrated passive sampling methods and probe-sensed online digital data transfer; combined sediment quantity and quality modelling; modelling-based risk assessment; assessment of sediment pathways and pollution from tributaries affected by mining and agricultural activities and modelling using monitoring data; Co-development and selection of optimal measure through stakeholder involvement.
Partners: AQUA, HGI, BOKU, BME and GeoZS.
Stakeholders: Water directorates; national parks; environmental agencies, reserve authorities; research and educational institutions.
Demo site 5:
Drava River confluence
Croatia
Problem:
The Drava River confluence is a meeting point between the international waterways of Danube and Drava, where navigation is often constrained or disrupted due to sedimentation. The site is in the Kopački rit Nature Park, which reduces the number of river training works that can be deployed as a sedimentation countermeasure, making this location perfect for implementation of NbS measures.
Response:
The aim of the analyses conducted within the project is to Assess the efficiency of proposed NbS measures; Improve the sediment continuity for Drava River; Minimize the sedimentation at the confluence. These solutions could be replicated to other river confluences.
Partners: UNIZAG, JCWI and GeoZS.
Stakeholders: Nature park, ministry, waterway authority.
Digital twin 1:
Iron Gates
Serbia and Romania
Problem:
This site located at the lower reaches of middle Danube is the largest sediment trap location in the basin and resets the sediment transport regime in the Danube for downstream sections. Iron Gate I and II system has a profound effect on sediment balance for the lower Danube basin and presents a major sediment management challenge in the basin, both in terms of quantity as well as quality of sediments.
Response:
Iron Gate sediment characterization and historical reconstruction of accumulation and quality. Creation of a “Digital Twin” for the zones of sediment deposition in the Iron Gate for the integrated sediment quantity and quality risk assessment and management support; Use of a “Digital Twin” for evaluation of different sediment management options and scenario analysis.
Partners: JCWI, BOKU, GeoZS and GIBAS.
Stakeholders: Water management, Iron Gate Power Company.
Demo site 6:
Danube River at Silistra
Bulgaria and Romania
Problem:
The site is trans-boundary located along the main course of the Danube River downstream of the Iron Gates. This demonstration site is pollution pathway- oriented, representing the Danube Basin upstream and the main river discharge into the Danube Delta and the Black Sea. It is partly coupled with the sub-site at Srebarna Nature Reserve (UNESCO), which environmental status is reported as decreasing due to reduced inflow from the Danube. The site is the SIMONA South Danube Test Area.
Response:
Integrated sediment quantity and quality monitoring incl. biological quality elements; testing of combined passive sampling methods; assessment of sediment pathways and pollution from tributaries affected by active and past mining downstream of Iron Gate; modelling using monitoring data; Co-development and selection of optimal measure through stakeholder involvement.
Partners: GI-BAS, GEOECOMAR, JCWI and BME.
Stakeholders: Ministries, water directorates; environment agencies, reserve authorities; research and educational institutions.
Digital twin 2:
Danube Delta
Romania
Problem:
The site is the terminal Receptor of all Danube Basin sediments in term of quantity and quality and is the Source as an input location of sediments into the Black Sea, the eventual sink of upstream river basin sediments. The Danube Delta is a key ecosystem functional unit as a world-class habitat and natural reserve, on one hand, and as the sediment input system towards the Black Sea. The processes that govern the transport of suspended particles from the Daunbe Delta into the Black Sea are very complex and spatially extensive.
Response:
Receptor characterization; Danube Delta sediment characterization (using archive data, EO and numerical modelling), Creation of a “Digital Twin” for the Danube Delta for a river-sea integrated sediment quantity and quality risk assessment and management support.
Partners: Geoecomar, USTIR and CNR.
Stakeholders: Ministries, water directorates; environment agencies, reserve authorities; research and educational institutions, Black Sea Commission.