INTRODUCTION

 

This project was implemented under the grant #10034105 147 of the International Development Research Centre of Ottawa (IDRC) and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

 

The project was developed within the framework of IDRC’s Environmental Management Development Program, Dnipro Basin in Russian part (EMDDBR). The project’s principal goal was to use widely available geographical information system (GIS) products such as ARC/INFO and ArcView to create a database of quantitative and qualitative indicators of water quality in Russia’s Dnipro basin, using existing information sources and with a capability of communication with similar Dnipro basin management databases in Belarus and Ukraine.

 

The database uses the following information sources:

 

- Database of the State Water Cadastre;

- Russian Register of Waterworks;

- Information from territorial units of Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources, State Hydrometeorology Committee and Ministry of Health.

 

The database contains the following main data on Russia’s Dnipro basin:

 

- Affixment of monitoring and sampling sites;

- Water use and discharge by sub-basins and regions;

- Quantitative and qualitative descriptions of water bodies;

- Information about protected natural territories;

- Information about areas with radioactive pollution and their descriptions grouped by vulnerability to pollution;

- Characteristics of channel processes;

- Administrative boundaries of regions and rayons, drainage network, etc.

 

This report provides information about the database’s individual parts, including graphic information formats and general requirements to hardware and system and dedicated software. It gives examples of the system’s functioning when processing of individual requests and creating and printing reports, as well as fragments of pages of the DnepRos web site based on the database. The report contains user advice, shows how adjusted data are prepares and transferred to the international environmental Dnipro basin database in Kyiv, lists hardware and software purchased and delivered to Russia’s Dnipro basin regions and the central network node under the project, and describes information coordination workshops conducted for DnepRos administrators.

 

ANNOTATION

 

This report was prepared within the framework of the project “Development of GIS Databases of Chemical, Biological and Other Water Quality Indicators, Dnipro Basin, Russia”. It provides information about the created database and its shell, gives examples of the database’s functioning, and describes the outcomes of key activities implemented under IDRC’s grant #10034105 147.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

 

БД – База данных

 

БПК – Биохимическое потребление кислорода

 

ГВК – Государственный водный кадастр

 

ГИС – Географическая информационная система

 

ГисБД – Геоинформационная база данных

 

ГТС – Гидротехнические сооружения

 

ИЗВ – Индекс загрязненности воды

 

КСОЗН – Коэффициент суммарной оценки здоровья населения

 

МЭБД – Международная экологическая база данных

 

МПР – Министерство природных ресурсов

 

ООПТ – Особо охраняемые природные территории

 

ПДК – Предельно-допустимая концентрация

 

РФ – Российская Федерация

 

РРГТС – Российский Регистр гидротехнических сооружений

 

СУБД – Система управления базами данных

 

СЭС – Санитарно-эпидемиологическая служба

 

ФЗ – Федеральный закон

 

CIDA – Канадское Агентство Международного Развития

 

GEF – Глобальный Экологический Фонд

 

IDRC – Центр исследования международного развития (Канада)

 

OLE – Связывание и внедрение объектов (технология)

 

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

 

The Russia’s Dnipro basin geoinformation database (DnepRos GISDB) and its shell comprise an information system, which is a part of Russia’s GISDB “Resources and Use of Water Bodies” – a software product containing information on the resources and use of water bodies located within the Russian Federation. The structure of the information system’s database allows for multi-year storage and completion of data. Together with modern cartographic information presentation technologies and the use of diagrams and graphs to present the information stored in the database, this provides for the capability of analysis, assessment, forecasting and control of the situation in river basins.

 

The database uses the following main sources of indicators:

- State water use registration system, which is a part of keeping Russia’s State Water Cadastre (SWC) and which has information on water use and surface and ground water discharge within Russia’s Dnipro basin;

- Information bulletins, analytical memorandums and water body condition information, projects that are parts of water objects monitoring programs developed by territorial units of the Ministry of Natural Resources, State Hydrometeorology Committee and Ministry of Health within the framework of the Network 1 and Network 2 projects by DnepRos nodes under contracts with IDRC;

- Information on waterworks by safety classes from the Russian Register of Waterworks (RRW).

 

1.1. The database (DB) has a logical structure consisting of the following main blocks of description objects and their characteristics:

 

1.1.1. Surface water objects within Russia’s Dnipro basin are represented by:

- Graphical images (lines representing rivers and polygons representing lakes, reservoir storages and other water bodies) of the background drainage network with density corresponding to the scales of 1:1,000,000 and 1:200,000 containing no characteristics in the DB;

- River networks for rivers with transboundary status and internal rivers used for affixment of objects of monitoring, anthropogenic load and other objects (lines representing rivers and polygons representing channel basins);

- Basins of transboundary rivers, including the Dnipro’s first- and second-order transboundary tributaries (polygons).

 

1.1.1.1. Information on the surface water bodies monitoring system:

- Spatial location and characteristics of monitoring stations;

- Affixment and characteristics of analytical laboratories;

- Affixment and characteristics of the developed elements of the transboundary monitoring system;

 

1.1.1.2. Resources of surface water objects at monitoring stations in accordance with Item 1.2.2: levels, flows, runoff volumes within calendar and characteristic time periods;

 

1.1.1.3. Quality indicators of surface water bodies at monitoring stations in accordance with Item 1.2.2:

- Concentrations of pollutants and/or their ratios to maximum permissible concentrations (MPCs) by ingredients;

- Water condition categories by integrated indicators (water pollution indices);

- Results of the Dnipro expedition within the Program as concerns quality parameters of transboundary water objects;

 

1.1.1.4. Information on the use of surface water within territories by basins and territories in accordance with Item 1.2.1 and years:

- Water extraction from surface water bodies;

- Water use by types of use;

- Discharge of waste water, extracted from surface and/or ground water bodies, into surface water bodies by pollution categories;

 

1.1.1.5. Indicators for high-hazard waterworks (WW) on surface water bodies, including affixment data and safety levels.

 

1.1.1.6. Hot points and surface water bodies risk zones assessment indicators;

 

1.1.1.7. Characteristics of channel processes, channel status, anthropogenic load on channels and river valleys:

- Channel-forming sediments (composition, slope processes, karst and erosive processes);

- Man-caused channel dynamics (river sections that are urbanized, banked, dredged, cut-off and regulated by low-pressure waterworks);

- The basin’s territories’ flooding time modes.

 

1.1.2. Protected natural territories (PNTs) are represented in the database by game reserves, natural monuments, reserves, and conservation areas of different status (federal, regional, local), type (landscape, biological, zoological, hydrological, botanical, etc.) and international classification categories.

 

Affixment is represented by polygons for large water bodies and territorially oriented PNTs affixed down to level of administrative rayons of oblasts.

 

For some water bodies, this information in supplemented with specific characteristics: location of monitoring stations, monitoring programs and results.

 

1.1.3. Political division is characterized by information about the borders of federation subjects and rayons and cities of different status from oblast centers down to centers of village districts.

 

1.1.4. The territory’s physico-geographic characteristic includes a characteristic of the basin’s natural, climatic and landscape conditions, the region’s meteorological conditions, water, land, mineral and forest resources. This block contains data on the anthropogenic load on the atmosphere, soils (including radioactive pollution indicators), etc.

 

1.1.5. The territory’s social-demographic and hygiene and sanitary situation is characterized by indicators of density of population, the population’s productive activity characteristics, specifics of social and demographic development, hygiene and sanitary situation and comprehensive public health assessment.

 

1.2. The shell of the geoinformation database supports the modes of receiving information on administrative and basin objects and their crossings (information nodes), thus ensuring the capability of supporting the solving of tasks of managing individual territories on the administrative-basin level.

 

The information system consists of the following functional elements:

- Navigation Subsystem – ensures the capability of selecting, displaying and saving cartographic images of the system’s information nodes in the Russia – Dnipro basin range;

- Dnipro Navigation Subsystem – ensures the capability of selecting, in response to enquiries, displaying and saving as maps, and if the Diagram Subsystem is used, as diagrams, detailed information on various subjects related to the Dnipro basin;

- Report Subsystem – ensures the capability of exporting information saved in the process of work of the above subsystems as the basis for quickly preparing Microsoft Word information documents.

 

The interface of the geoinformation database is based on Microsoft’s recommendations and is intuitively understandable for the user who knows how to use standard program products. The database’s subsystems are described in more detail, including recommendations for the user, in Section 2.

 

1.3. The program product was created in the Borland Delphi 6.0 programming environment (http://www.borland.com/). The beta version of the information system uses the Microsoft Access database management system (http://www.microsoft.com/) as an information database. Cartographic information is presented in SHAPE files created in the desktop cartography environment ArcView 3.2 and displayed by means of the cartographic object library MapObjects LT 2.0 (http://www.esri.com/).

 

1.4. System requirements to the computer to use the Resources and Use of Water Bodies geoinformation database:

- Windows 2000 operating system;

- Pentium III computer;

- At least 128 Mb random-access memory.

 

1.5. The geoinformation database provides the capability of exporting coordinated information to the International Environmental Database (IEDB). The detailed structure and description of exchange files and data transfer mechanism are presented in Section 3.

 

1.6. GISDB is the information basis of the DNEPROS web site (http://www.dnepros.ru/) created within the project freely accessible to a wide range of users. The system was tested at the nodes of a federal-level computer network and was examined and approved by IDRC and CIDA representatives (М. Lagola and R. Losian) on September 25 and 26, 2003.

Fragments of web pages, including those created within the IEDB Project of the UNDP-GEF Program are presented in Section 4.

 

1.7. The contract to develop GISDB envisaged the development of hardware and software at computer network nodes, because the database must be organized and function at a rather high system level. Information about the acquired hardware and software, their recipients, key data suppliers and database forming and use workshops that were conducted is presented in Section 5.

 

2. DESCRIPTION OF SUBSYSTEMS

 

2.1. The Navigation Subsystem (Fig. 2.1) is the basis of the Resources and Use of Water Bodies geoinformation database. This subsystem allows the user to select and view the system’s information nodes.

 

Initially, when the subsystem is started, the information node presents information on the Russian Federation as a whole. Further information display is determined dynamically depending on what actions the user selects.

Each information node is a crossing of an administrative object and a basin object in accordance with their hierarchical nesting.

 

Window work space of the Navigation Subsystem consists of three main panels:

- Toolbar,

- Request panel,

- Response panel.

 

2.1.1. The toolbar is located in the upper part of the subsystem's window work space (Fig. 2.2). It allows performing the Navigation Subsystem’s main commands.

Fig. 2.2. Overall view of the toolbar

Brief descriptions of the toolbar’s commands are presented below.

 

1.   – Go back one step of selecting information nodes. This command cannot be performed if the active information node is the subsystem’s first node.

2.  – Go to the first page. This command activates the subsystem’s first information node (information on the Russian Federation as a whole).

3.  – Display detailed information about the selected node. If a detailed information handler is registered for the selected information node, this command invokes the handler. In the database’s beta version, a detailed information handler is registered only for the Dnipro basin node.

4.  – Display the list of saved maps and diagrams. During work, the user can save maps and diagrams in a special storage. Information from the saved object storage is used when exporting data to Microsoft Word (see Report Subsystem below).

5.  – Start the Report Subsystem (see below). This subsystem is used to export information from the geoinformation system to Microsoft Word.

6.  – Print information. This capability is not available in the system’s beta version. To print data, the user can export information to Microsoft Word and then print the information so exported using Microsoft Word.

7.  – Brief information about the system.

8.  – Geoinformation database help. This capability is not available in the system’s beta version.

 

2.1.2. The request panel enables the user to select an information node (Fig. 2.3).

 

Fig. 2.5. Saving node information in the object storage

 Saved information is moved to a special object storage that can be accessed by clicking on the button on the toolbar (Fig. 2.6). Information from the saved object storage is used when exporting data to Microsoft Word (see Item 2.3 “Report Subsystem”).

 
Fig. 2.6. Saving node information in the object storage

 

Figures 2.7 – 2.15 give examples of working with the Navigation Subsystem.

Fig. 2.7. Russian Federation by sea basins

 

 Fig. 2.8. Black Sea basin

 
Fig. 2.9. First-order sub-basins of the Dnipro

 

Fig. 2.10. Sub-basins of the Sozh

 

Fig. 2.11. Division of the Sozh basin by subjects of the Russian Federation

 

Fig. 2.12. Dnipro basin in Bryansk oblast

 

Fig. 2.13. Division of the Desna basin by subjects of the Russian Federation

 

Fig. 2.14. Division of the Desna basin by subjects of the Russian Federation

 
When an information node that has a detailed information handler is selected, the appearance of the request panel changes (Fig. 2.15).

Fig. 2.15. Detailed information handler for the Dnipro information node

 

The detailed information handler is activated by clicking on a button.

 

2.2. The Dnipro Subsystem (Fig. 2.16) presents detailed information about Russia’s Dnipro basin on the following subjects:

 

- General characteristic

 

- General information

 

- Object data

- Drainage network

- Political division

 

- Environmental situation

 

- Spillages

 

- Hot points

 

- Floodings

- Underfloodings

- Sanitary and epidemiological situation

- Protectability

 

- Caesium vulnerability

- Caesium load

 

- Waterworks safety levels

- Characteristics of channel processes

 

- Resources

 

- Surface water

- Groundwater

 

- Use

 

- Extraction

 

- Surface water

- Groundwater

 

- Use

 

- For needs

 

- Discharge

 

- By degree of pollution

- Pollutants

 

- Monitoring

 

- Surface water monitoring

 

- Transboundary water monitoring

- Monitoring within the basin

 

- Environmental monitoring

 

- Monitoring within the basin

- Monitoring in conservation areas

 

- Biodiversity

 

- Protected natural territories

 

- Polygons

- Lists

 

- Information support

 

- Network support

- Tool support

                
- Laboratories

 

Fig. 2.16. Overall view of the Dnipro Subsystem

 
In the Dnipro Subsystem’s sections, information is presented in the form of text, diagrams, cartographic layers and bitmap images. Figures 2.17 – 2.32 give examples of the Dnipro Subsystem’s sections.

  

Fig. 2.17. Drainage network of the Dnipro basin, scale 1:200,000

 

 

Fig. 2.18. Political division of the basin

 

Fig. 2.19. Characteristics of channel processes (sediment composition)

 

 

Fig. 2.20. Characteristics of channel processes (karst processes)

 

 

Fig. 2.21. Surface Water Quality Enquiry System

 

 

Fig. 2.22. Surface Water Extraction Enquiry System

 

Fig. 2.23. Water extraction from surface water bodies

 

 

Fig. 2.24. Discharge Enquiry System

Fig. 2.25. Transboundary water monitoring

 

 

Fig. 2.26. Description of transboundary monitoring stations

 
 

Fig. 2.27. Monitoring stations within the Dnipro basin

 

 

Fig. 2.28. Monitoring in conservation areas

 

Fig. 2.29. Protected natural territories within the Dnipro basin

 

Fig. 2.30. Description of protected natural territories of federal status within the Dnipro basin

 

Fig. 2.31. Structure of the computer network

 
 

Fig. 2.32. Analytical laboratories within the Dnipro basin

2.3. The Report Subsystem is used to export prepared information from the object storage (see Item 2.1.4) to Microsoft Word. The subsystem is started by clicking on the button “Export to Microsoft Word” on the main toolbar (Fig. 2.33).

                                      

Fig. 2.33. Start of the Report Subsystem

The subsystem initiates a connection with Microsoft Word’s OLE server, creates a new document using a template, and transfers the prepared data (text, diagrams, maps) into the created Microsoft Word document (Fig. 2.34).

 

Fig. 2.34. Prepared report in review mode

After viewing the information, the user can format the report as necessary and print it. A sample prepared report is presented below (Fig. 2.34).

 

Sample report

 

Water Use in the Desna Basin in 2002

 

The Desna basin consists of four sub-basins (Fig. 1).

 

Fig. 1. The Desna’s sub-basins

Extraction from surface water objects in the Desna basin in 2002 amounted to 263.2 million m³. Extraction by subjects of the Russian Federation is presented on Fig. 2.

 

 

Fig. 2. Extraction from surface water objects

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig. 3 shows discharged water pollution assessment by biochemical oxygen demand (full) in 2000-2002.

 

 

Fig. 3. Biochemical oxygen demand in the Desna’s sub-basins within Bryansk oblast

 

  Kursk oblast

 

 

 

  Bryansk oblast

3. LINKS BETWEEN GISDB AND IEDB

 

The geoinformation database provides the capability of exporting coordinated information to the International Environmental Database (IEDB).

 

3.1. International information exchange is represented by the following files:

 

- Tabular information (DBF format):

 

- Table of categories of water quality indicators CATS.DBF;

- Water quality indicators table ELEMS.DBF;

- Monitoring stations description table STATIONS.DBF;

- Water quality data table VALUES.DBF;

- Waste water discharge table ESCAPES.DBF;

- Table of qualitative discharge indicators data POLLUTIONS.DBF;

- Water flow data table EXPENSES.DBF;

- Table of categories of waste water discharge indicators ESCCATS.DBF;

- Water objects description table OBJECTS.DBF;

- Political units description table REGIONS.DBF.

 

- Geocoverage (SHAPE format):

 

- State and administrative borders, boundaries of conservation areas – ADMLIN;

- Territories of political units – ADMPOL;

- Drainage network objects not expressed in area (rivers, brooks, canals, drains) – DNL;

- Boundaries of areal objects (lakes, storage reservoirs, rivers, islands) – DNAR_LN;

- Drainage network objects expressed in area (lakes, storage reservoirs, rivers, islands) – DNAR;

- Centers of population and individual buildings not expressed in the map’s scale (towns, settlements, individual households (farmsteads), individual buildings) – PPT;

- Hot points – HOT_POINT;

- Protected natural territories of federal status – OOPT;

- Contains Russia’s Dnipro basin – BAS;

- The Dnipro’s sub-basins, including first-order tributaries within Russia’s Dnipro basin – BAS_5;

- The Dnipro’s sub-basins, including first-order tributaries within Russia’s Dnipro basin, by oblasts – BAS_5_TER;

- The Dnipro’s sub-basins, including first- and second-order tributaries within Russia’s Dnipro basin – BAS_13;

- The Dnipro’s sub-basins, including first- and second-order tributaries within Russia’s Dnipro basin, by oblasts – BAS_13_TER.

 

- Graphics files (JPEG, BMP, TIFF formats).

 

3.2. Detailed structure and description of data exchange files are presented below.

 

3.2.1. Structure of “dbf” data exchange files

 

3.2.1.1. Links between exchange tables

 

 

3.2.1.2.  General directories.

 

OBJECTS.DBF

Water objects

 

 

REGIONS.DBF

Political units – oblasts and rayons

 

 

3.2.1.3. Surface water quality.

 

CATS.DBF

Categories of water quality indicators (directory)

 

 

ELEMS.DBF

Water quality indicators (directory)

 

 

STATIONS.DBF

Monitoring stations (directory)

 

 

VALUES.DBF

Surface water quality data

 

 

 

3.2.1.4. Surface water resources.

 

POINTS.DBF

Observation stations (directory)

 

 

HYDRO.DBF

Water flow data

 

 

3.2.1.5. Water use.

 

WASTECATS.DBF

Categories of waste water discharge indicators (directory)

 

 

WASTEWATERS.DBF

Waste water discharge data

 

 

POLLUTIONS.DBF

Qualitative discharge indicators data

 

 

3.1.2.6. Protected natural territories.

 

OOPTCATS.DBF

PNT category as determined in the law (directory)

 

 

OOPTMSOP.DBF

PNT category as determined in ОТ МСОП (directory)

(a PNT may have more than one ОТ МСОП category, see)

 

 

OOPTPROF.DBF

PNT profile (directory)

(a PNT may have more than one profile, see)

 

 

OOPTCONV.DBF

International conventions (directory)

(a PNT may participate in more than one convention, see)

 

 

OOPT.DBF

Data on protected natural territories

 

 

REL_OOPTREG.DBF

PNT affixment to territory

 

 

REL_OOPTMSOP.DBF

PNT affixment to ОТ МСОП categories

 

 

REL_OOPTPROF.DBF

PNT affixment to profiles

 

 

REL_OOPTCONV.DBF

PNT affixment to international conventions

 

 

 

3.2.2. Structure of SHAPE files

 

3.2.2.1. The Russian Dnipro basin’s political division and borders

 

 

 

3.2.2.2. Hydrography

 

 

 

 

3.2.2.3. Centers of population

 

 

 

 

3.2.2.4. Basins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.3. Tabled information is exported to the DBF format by standard Microsoft Access export means using requests filtering the information stored in the initial database.

 

Geocoverage files (SHAPE files) are prepared in ArcView.

 

Graphics files (JPEG, BMP, TIFF) are prepared in Adobe Photoshop.

 

3.4. Exported data are archived in a file named DDMMYYYY.ZIP (information export date: DD – day, MM – month, YYYY – year) and stored in a special catalogue on the web server (http://www.dnepros.ru). Access to this information is limited and is granted to registered users by means of a standard Internet browser.

 

 

 

4. FRAGMENTS OF WEB PAGES

Figures 4.1 – 4.10 give examples of how information is presented on the Internet.

 

Fig. 4.1. The site’s home page

 

 

Fig. 4.2. Resources and Quality Subject Block

 

Fig. 4.3. Description of a monitoring station

 

Fig. 4.4. Water flow by sites

Fig. 4.5. Surface water quality at the Vorskla’s transboundary site

 

Fig. 4.6. Surface and ground water use

 

Fig. 4.7. Water use in the Desna basin

Fig. 4.8. Water extraction by the Dnipro’s sub-basins

 

Fig. 4.9. Legislation Subject Block

 

 

                               Fig. 4.10. Russia’s level of the Legislation Subject Block

5. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DELIVERED AND WORKSHOPS

 

5.1. Hardware and software delivered

 

The following was acquired and delivered under the contract:

 

 

5.2. Work meetings and workshops

 

During the project’s implementation, GISDB development issues were considered on repeated occasions at work meetings with the participation of the chairman and members of the Program Committee and its Office, heads and members of IDRC and UNDP-GEF projects’ work groups, managers of organizations of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, State Hydrometeorology Committee and Ministry of Health that serve as the network’s nodes of the territorial, basin and federal levels.

 

GISDB workshops for representatives of 22 nodes and managers of the DnepRos computer network were conducted during the period between September 2002 and September 2003. The workshops, which were combined with the receipt by their participants of the hardware and software, included discussion and development of proposals on the following issues:

- Composition of subject blocks;

- Organizational and methodological problems;

- Interdepartmental information cooperation on the territorial, basin and federal levels;

- Development prospects, including further training of the experts.

 

“VODNIIINFORMPROEKT’s” work plans of GISDB maintenance and development envisage geoinformation training of representatives of DnepRos nodes (GIS centers) by the experts of the network’s central node (Russian Dnipro Information Center – “VODNIIINFORMPROEKT” OJSC) involving consultants from DATA+, a joint venture with geoinformation software developer ESRI.