Transboundary river basin flood forecasting and early warning system experience in Maritza River basin between Bulgaria and Turkey

This paper describes the main outcomes of the first operational flood forecasting and early warning system (FFEWS) implemented in Turkey across a transboundary river basin system, Maritza–Tundja–Arda, which is crossing the borders of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. The floods experienced within Turkish territory (mainly the city of Edirne) necessitated integration of advanced technological tools into the site works implemented by administrators and decision makers in Bulgaria and Turkey. As such, FFEWS has been integrated into the decision processes of the General Directorate of State Hydraulics Works of Turkey, who is the main regulatory government agency in charge of flood planning and management services and solutions in Turkey. A close technical and administrative collaboration basis was also established with the counterpart organization in Bulgaria, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology. This paper further defines a structured mechanism for estimation of extreme discharges for different exceedance probabilities at various locations along the Maritza River and the tributaries of Tundja and Arda Rivers. The estimated discharges were used to define and evaluate alarm levels at water-level forecast locations in the Maritza River FFEWS. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015