Free Flow

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ransboundary

ater

anagement

The main features of an open source interactive information system

are detailed below.

Data catalogue (data layers)

The data catalogue is a listing of available datasets including infor-

mation about the layers which are overlaid on the map. The specific

module enables the activation and deactivation of layers related to

the extent of the river basin and the project countries.

View window (thematic maps)

The specific module is the viewer of the mapping interface. It includes

the four different types of base maps: standard, satellite, hybrid and

terrain maps. These are supported by the Google Maps web mapping

service application and technology provided by Google. It also

includes navigation tools (zoom in, zoom out and the pan arrows)

and a scale bar both in kilometres and miles. Moreover, the mapping

interface supports the overlaying of the countries’ boundaries and

extents as well as the overlaying of the identified aquifer’s extent.

Information window

The window also integrates links with synoptic and detailed

summary information, descriptive information and country reports

on the river basins.

Search tool and feedback menu

The feedback menu, appears when users click on the button ‘Click

here to give feedback’. In order for a comment to be sent to the project

participants, the person making the comments has to provide their full

name and e-mail address. There are two types of comments: general

comments and comments referring to a specific geolocation. In the

latter case, users should click on the map, so that the coordinates of the

specific location are automatically integrated into the comments form.

Different georeferenced information systems for trans-

boundary waters are hosted on the UNESCO Chair/

INWEB portal under the ‘Databases’ menu tab. This

menu contains similar interactive databases on trans-

boundary surface and groundwater in SEE, Northern

Africa and the Middle East.

Collaboration is the key to transcending and cross-

ing boundaries between countries or between different

administrations, institutions and groups of stakehold-

ers within the same country. When rivers, lakes and

aquifer systems cross political boundaries, the issue of

having good governance for water resources manage-

ment becomes very complex and difficult to attain.

Again the key for resolving such problems is collabo-

ration between institutes, decision-making authorities,

water professionals and stakeholders.

Modern ICTs can facilitate distance dialogue

between the above parties, by providing interactively

on the Internet spatially distributed data and distance-

based collaborative tools. New tools and interactive

maps can be put together by using open source soft-

ware such as Google Maps, Google API and Google

Fusion Tables technologies.

The progress made in developing such collaborative

tools is shown in the case studies from SEE. By using

specially tailored collaborative information systems, the

data collected from different countries were communi-

cated to stakeholders at a local level in such a way as

to facilitate their involvement in the decision-making

process. Different aggregations of conflicting multiple

criteria can help in producing alternative solutions for

sustainable groundwater resources management.

Case study: the Mesta/Nestos River

The transboundary Mesta/Nestos River watershed extends over Bulgaria

and Greece. The Mesta River springs out from the Rila and Pirin mountain

ranges and flows into a graben plain bordered by the granite formation of

the Rhodopes mountains. Changing its name into Nestos when crossing the

border between the two countries, the river cuts its gorges through the vast

marble karstic formation of the Lekani. Its course finally ends in a highly

irrigated deltaic plain before reaching the Agean Sea. The Mesta/Nestos

Basin extends over 5,751 km

, of which 2,314 km

are situated in Greece.

The Bulgarian part of the basin is primarily a mountainous agriculture

region, although there are several urban areas and the recent development

of ski resorts. Being one of the few high-quality freshwater resources in

South-West Bulgaria, the Mesta river basin is the site of storage dams and

water diversions, both in the present and planned for the future. On the

Greek side, there are several large and recently constructed hydropower

dams in the Upper Nestos River. Further extensions of this dam complex

are under study as part of an irrigation development project which could

serve the areas of Drama, Xanthi and the Nestos Delta.

In the past, Bulgaria and Greece signed a bilateral treaty regulating the

amount of water used for serving their national interests. Both Greece and

Bulgaria are obliged to apply the European Union (EU) Water Framework

Directive as they are EU member states, Bulgaria having joined in 2007.

Good cooperation exists between the two countries and several water-related

projects have been developed in the basin, which is one of the UNESCO/

Hydrology, Environment, Life and Policy programme’s demonstration basins.

The Mesta/Nestos downstream gorges in Greece

The Mesta/Nestos river basin

Image: UNESCO Chair/INWEB

Image: J. Ganoulis