Did you know ...

  • The Danube flows through four European capital cities - Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade.

  • Wetlands not only supply water, but they cleanse it too. When water enters a wetland, it filters out impurities before allowing the water to leave.

  • By absorbing water during the wet season and gradually releasing it during the dry season, wetlands refill aquifers and other drinking water supplies.

  • Species loss in freshwater ecosystems is faster than anywhere else on Earth. There is a more than 50% decline in freshwater species populations over the past 30 years.

  • Globally, the agricultural sector consumes about 70% of the planet's accessible freshwater – more than twice that of industry (23%), and dwarfing municipal use (8%).

  • Today only a third of the world’s 177 large rivers (1,000 km and longer) remain free-flowing, unimpeded by dams or other barriers.

  • The global average water footprint is about 3,400 litres per person per day with the USA and Japan at about double this rate.

  • The deepest waters of the Black Sea extend to depths of well over two kilometers.

  • The Black Sea is almost completely cut off from the world's other seas and oceans.

  • The Danube is the largest tributary to the Black Sea.