The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) launched the Danube Day celebrations on the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Management of the Danube River at the Ministerial Meeting in Vienna on 29 June 2004. Since then, 29 June has been celebrated as Danube Day in the Danube basin.

It is a day to celebrate the Danube and its tributaries, which play a key role in people’s lives by providing water, food, energy, recreation and livelihoods.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the convention and the 20th anniversary of the Danube River Basin Agreement.

Over the past 20 years, Danube Day has grown into the largest international river festival in the world. With major riverside festivals and public gatherings as well as educational events, the banks of rivers from the Black Forest to the Black Sea are filled with activities to celebrate the cultural diversity of the Danube.

Every country in the Danube’s catchment area monitors water quality, including the Republic of Croatia. The Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute carries out monitoring at four monitoring stations (Batina, Aljmaš, Borovo, Ilok) and, together with Hrvatske vode, participates in the work of the ICPDR and the protection of the entire catchment area. Most of the indicators show a good status of the Danube, but even the deviations are not worrying, as considerable efforts are being made to preserve the environment and water quality of the Danube and its largest tributaries.