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Danube - Dniepr - Don - Douro - Ebro - Elbe - Garonne - Guadalquivir - Guadiana - Loire - Oder - Po - Rhine - Rhone - Seine - Tagus - Vistula - Volga ELBE
Length (km): 1 091
The Elbe River forms one of the largest river systems of central Europe. It originates in the Northwest part of the Czech Republic before traversing Germany and emptying into the North Sea. Its basin covers different geographical regions from middle mountain ranges in the west and south to large flatlands and lowlands in the central, northern and eastern part of the basin. The Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague. The river is linked by canals to the industrial areas of Germany and to Berlin. The Elbe-Lübeck Canal also links the Elbe to the Baltic Sea. About two thirds of the river basin area belongs to Germany and one third to the Czech Republic. Austria and Poland have nearly the same small shares in the catchment. The Elbe catchment covers 27.2% of Germany and 64% of the Czech Republic. About 25 million inhabitants live in the catchment, 76% of which are in Germany and the remaining 24% in the Czech Republic. This amounts to about 58% of the Czech population and 23% of the German population. The most significant cities are Berlin (3.47 million inhabitants), Hamburg (1.71 million), Prague (1.21 million), Leipzig (480 000), Dresden (477 000), Halle (290 000), Chemniz (278 000) and Magdeburg (256 000). The Elbe and its tributaries are mostly used for
obtaining drinking water and water for industrial
or irrigation purposes. Due to the poor quality of
the river water, the use as drinking water and
industrial water is only possible after adequate
treatment or with corresponding restrictions. Compared with other areas of
Europe, water availability per inhabitant (680 m³) can be considered
extremely low. Along the Elbe numerous
filtration plants provide water to about 1.8 million
people. The devastating flooding in August 2002 and the winter flooding 2002/2003 suddenly brought the Elbe region to public attention. These floods brought destruction and damage to large parts of the Elbe catchment in which, until that time, the dominant problem had been low water availability. Agriculture is an important land use in the upper reaches of the Elbe. The upper Elbe River in the Czech Republic is characterized by many regulation measures taken from 1904 to 1976. For a distance of 170 km (from Pardubice to Usti and Labem) the Elbe is a canalized river with 24 weirs and sluices. Damming on this part the Elbe has reduced the flow velocity from a slow flowing river to nearly standing water. Known point sources of pollutants are wastewater treatment plants and industrial discharges. High potential pollution is also associated with abandoned industrial sites as well as with waste disposal sites. Between 1990 and 1999 a total of 181 water treatment plants were constructed or improved in the catchment, improving water quality significantly. Among diffuse sources of pollutants are those connected with agriculture
and farming. About 55.7% of the catchment (148 268 km2) is used for agriculture,
55 160 km2 (56.9% of the German basin) in Germany and 26 810 km2 (53.4% of
the Czech basin) in the Czech Republic.
In 1998 the IKSE identified the most significant industrial emissions in the Elbe basin as originating from chemical, pharmacological, cellulose and paper, metallurgic, electrical, leather, fur, glass, ceramic and textile industries, as well as from mining. In 1999 in the Elbe basin, 33 industrial sites and 15 waste disposal sites were identified as potentially dangerous. While before and soon after the reunification of Germany the Elbe water quality was described as LAWA class III (excessively polluted) to IV (ecologically spoiled), the present state of the Elbe can be described as class II-III (critically polluted) to II (moderately polluted). The main pollutants are heavy metals, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and nitrogen compounds. A high concentration of heavy metals and chlorinated hydrocarbons (especially HCB) can still be found in sediments; this accumulates in mussels and fish, particularly in the Czech Republic. Pollution of the Moldau downstream of Prague is due to insufficient waste water treatment in this city. LAWA water quality classification, used in Germany, was developed by the Working Group of the Federal States on water problems in cooperation with the Federal Environmental Agency.
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Czech:
Labe, Ancient: Albis.
