The environment of the Danube River helps people because it allows navigation between the countries it runs through. People have been using this river for hundreds of years as a means of navigation. It has a distance of 2,200 miles which makes it easy for many European countries to transport goods along the river. The Danube has also been a source of drinking water for over 20 million people. In Germany especially, almost 30 percent of the drinkable water comes from the Danube. In Hungary and most other countries, the river is too dirty to drink from, due to pollution. Fishing on the Danube has been important since the Middle Ages and fishermen are still active on the river. The region near Budapest has over 40 species of fish, which gives people in the city food and also allows Hungary to have a small fishing industry. The fishing industry has changed dramatically in the last 50 years, but continues to provide a small amount of income for some fishermen.
Over the past 6 decades, the Danube River has changed drastically. During the period of communism in Hungary and other neighboring countries, the river was heavily polluted and many ancient fish species were in danger. The Danube suffered from over-exploitation of resources, damming, re-channeling and illegal fishing. Agricultural pollution, such as fertilizers and other chemicals have harmed the Danube River in many places. This caused a lot of issues for people who made money from fishing in the Danube.
