Europe and Me

Making our environment cleaner and safer? The European Union

A tale of two countries

Meanwhile, up the river in another country…

Down the river, the fish are all dead…

How can they stop the fish being poisoned?

Major rivers in Europe Elbe Oder Vistula Volga Dnieper Danube Po Rhone Tagus Thames Shannon Seine Loire Rhine Don

Did you know? The longest European rivers to cross national boundaries are: Danube (2850 km): Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czexh Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, poland, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine Rhine (1319 km): Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Belgium Elbe (1165 km): Czech Republic. Germany Vistula (1086 km): Poland, Belarus, Slovakia, Ukraine Tagus (1007 km): Spain, Portugal Oder (912 km): Czech Republic, Poland, Germany Po (652 km): Italy, Switzerland, France Rhone (485 km): Switzerland, France

Did you know? The main types of toxic waste are: pesticides/ insecticides weed killers/ herbicides battery fluid batteries paints oil radioactive waste medicines – also clinical, e.g., hypodermic needles or dialysis waste bleach gas canisters fridges/ freezers

Did you know? Nineteen countries share the Danube river basin, which makes it the world’s most international river basin. Five major rivers and 165 million people in Europe pour pollution into the Danube. The river absorbs raw sewage from cities, pesticides and chemicals from farmers' fields, waste from factories and bilge oil from ships. In 1988, 364 drums of toxic waste originating in Italy were found to have been dumped into the Danube and somehow made their way onto the beaches and coastal waters of Turkey.

Did you know? The EU Water Framework Directive is a set of laws that governs the care of rivers in EU Member States. It says that: Member States have to identify and complete an analysis of all the river basins lying within their national territory Member States have to produce a management plan for each river basin district, making sure that it is in a good ecological condition and that pollution by hazardous substances is reduced – with penalties if these provisions are infringed river basins covering more than one member state should be assigned to an international river basin district and a competent authority designated to look after each one.

Did you know? The EU has been taking a number of measures to protect the environment – including: setting targets to limit air pollutants produced by vehicles setting standards for bathing water introducing rules for waste disposal so that dangerous waste from Europe can no longer be dumped in poor countries requiring all Member States to complete noise maps for their major towns, roads and airports and draw up action plans to reduce noise levels adopting the Birds Directive which identifies 194 endangered species and sub-species of wild bird for special care setting up an EU Emission Trading Scheme on CO2 emissions from industrial installations.