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ABSTRACT
This paper presents recent hydrogeological data, the results of analysis of groundwater utilization and protection, and gives an overview of the River Basin Management Plan development in Ukraine. Being one of the five Tisza countries, Ukraine joined in the development and implementation of the International Tisza River Basin Management Plan that is aimed at reaching the objectives set by the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD). The River Basin Management Plan covers issues related to water quality and water quantity, land and water management, floods and drought. According to areal extent (areas of over 500 km2), there were identified eight groundwater bodies within the Ukrainian Tisza river basin in compliance with the Water Framework Directive targets. The groundwater bodies (GWBs) were identified based on the results of research into the geology and hydrogeology of the Transcarpathians (Zakarpatska oblast'), the geological survey data, as well as regional environmental investigations. The nation-wide importance of the Ukrainian groundwater bodies has brought into focus their status assessment and implementation of measures aimed at improving their quantitative and chemical status.
Keywords: GWBs, groundwater protection, WFD, Tisza, Ukraine
INTRODUCTION
The Memorandum of Understanding - Towards a River Basin Management Plan for the Tisza River - signed by the Tisza counties (Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Serbia) in 2004 aimed at satisfying the requirements laid down in the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). The Tisza Group countries agreed to devise an International Tisza River Management Plan (ITRBMP) - a document supporting sustainable development of the region and integrating issues related to water quality and water quantity, land and water management, floods and drought.
Without being obliged by the national law to do so, Ukraine ratified the Danube River Protection Convection in 2002 thus joining in the preparation of a RBMP for its Tisza River sub-basin in 2010-2011. While developing the Plan, the country relied on the previously developed best practices in producing RBMPs including those for the Danube River Basin (2009), the Tisza River Basin (2010), the Sava River Basin (2011), and Slovakia's Bodrog River Basin Management Plan (2009). The Ukrainian RBMP was developed by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Ukraine has a number of...