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Management of transboundary water resources has been the focus of many studies due to the observed water stress all over the globe combined with the continually increasing water demand. States sharing water resources often proceed to negotiations regarding water allocation issues and other managerial issues in order to settle their disputes. During such negotiations the use of appropriate tools, which will provide assistance to the opponent parties in terms of scenarios quantification and simulation processes, is a vital component toward conflict resolution. The present paper implements game theoretical concepts in the case study of Greek–Bulgarian negotiations on Nestos/Mesta transboundary river. The quantification of consequences caused by water flow decrease for different scenarios provides the background for estimations of compromising solutions that could be acceptable to both countries. Moreover, implementing interconnected games widens the countries’ available options and contributes to the avoidance of unreasonable outcomes while balancing uneven “power” potentials. The different utilities of the calculated payoffs to each country are leveled by the incorporation of socioeconomic factors reflecting the differences observed in the development level of the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nestos River flows through Bulgaria and Greece and discharges into the North Aegean Sea. Its total catchment area is around 6,200 km, while the mean annual precipitation and runoff are 680 mm and 40 m/s, respectively. The Hellenic part of the catchment has undergone a substantial hydroelectric development, since two dams associated with major hydropower pumped-storage facilities are in operation. The main objective of the paper is to assess the expected sediment delivery of Nestos R. at the uppermost Thisavros reservoir site. This has been carried out by implementing the Universal Soil Loss Equation in a GIS environment for determining the mean annual soil erosion in conjunction with a suspended sediment measurement program (114 measurements in total) accomplished between 1965 and 1983 adjacent to the dam site. The sediment discharge rating curve between sediment and river discharges in a power form has been constructed using five alternative techniques, namely (a) the linear regression of the log-transformed variables, (b) the same as (a) but with the Ferguson correction, (c) different ratings for the dry and wet seasons of the year, (d) the nonlinear regression, and (e) the broken line interpolation that utilizes different rating parameters for two discharge classes. It is shown that the mean annual sediment yield is almost equal for all rating curve formulations and varies between 178.5 t km and 203.4 t km and the highest value results from the broken line interpolation method. Accordingly, the sediment delivery ratios vary slightly between 17% and 19% of the upstream soil erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using satellite data for flood forecasting in catchments located in mid-latitudes is challenging to engineers and model developers, in no small part due to the plethora of data sets that need to be retrieved, combined, calibrated and used for simulation in real time. The differences between the various satellite rainfall data products and the continuous improvement in their quantity and quality render the development of a single software tool, able to read and process all the different data sets, particularly difficult. Even if such an endeavour was undertaken, the degree of flexibility and extensibility that such a tool would require to accommodate future versions of data sets, available in different file formats as well as different temporal and spatial resolution should not be underestimated. This paper describes the development of a flood forecasting system that addresses this issue through a modular architecture based on the use of the Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI) standard, which facilitates the interaction between a number of separate software components. It is suggested that this approach greatly simplifies programming and debugging and eliminates the need to create spatial and temporal transformation functions without significantly compromising the overall execution speed. The approach and system were tested for forecasting flood events within a particularly challenging transboundary catchment, the Evros catchment, extending between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. The system uses two sets of data sources, as an example (NASA’s TRMM 3B42 and 3B42RT satellite data sets) to forecast flooding in the Evros catchment. Results indicate that OpenMI greatly facilitates the complex interaction of various software components and considerably increases the flexibility and extensibility of the overall system and hence its operational value and sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Implementing efficient water resources management plans at trans-boundary river catchments is a difficult task that requires strong international cooperation, intensive monitoring programs, and common understanding of the impacts imposed on water resources by human pressures. Evros River, which flows through Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, is an ecologically important water body, protected by international legislation but nevertheless it is susceptible to numerous significant pollution sources that may lead to the deterioration of its environmental status. In this study, a water monitoring program was applied, incorporating chemical and biological parameters to assess the environmental status in the Greek part of the river and identify the associated pollution pressures. For this purpose, seasonal water sampling occurred in 13 sites along the longitudinal course of the river and a series of parameters were recorded including nutrients, heavy metals, microbiological loads, macroinvertebrate, and fish assemblages and abundance. The results indicated that the water quality of Evros River illustrate substantial spatiotemporal fluctuations, which can be well related to specific human activities and associated pressures. Therefore, a trans-boundary monitoring program should be initiated that will provide continuous information for the development and revision of the catchment's adaptive management plan in order to restrict pollution impacts and achieve a good ecological status as required by the Water Framework Directive 2000/60EC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]