- 2 - 
HELCOM Scientific Workshop on the Effects of the 1997 Flood 
of the Odra and Vistula Rivers 
- Terms of Reference - 
(Source: HELCOM/EC 8, Oct. 1997) 
In the framework of the Helsinki Commission - Baltic Marine Environment Protection 
Commission (HELCOM) - decided on a scientific Workshop on the Effects of the 1997 Flood 
of the Odra and Vistula Rivers to be hold on 12-14 January 1998 in Hamburg, Germany, with 
the aims 
a) to compile and assess the results of investigations of the flood of the Odra and Vistula 
rivers in order to assess the effects of the floods to the Baltic Sea and to consider 
possible reasons which caused the flood 
i) to report on the circumstances that led to the flood; 
ii) to report on the development of the flood in the rivers, in the Szczecin Lagoon, 
in the Pomeranian Bay, in the Gulf of Gdansk and in the Baltic Sea; 
iii) to report on the concentrations and loads of nutrients and contaminants in the 
course of the river carried with the flood, to the Szczecin Lagoon, to the 
Pomeranian Bay, to the Gulf of Gdansk and to the Baltic Sea; 
iv) to report on the effects of nutrients and contaminants carried with the flood of 
the rivers, to the Szczecin Lagoon, to the Pomeranian Bay, to the Gulf of 
Gdansk and to the Baltic Sea; 
b) to draft a text on the effects of the flood to the Baltic Sea as well as a proposal for 
necessary future actions based on the experience gained during the flood, for possible 
inclusion in the 1998 Ministerial Communique; 
c) to draft an emergency plan for multilateral and bilateral procedures for information 
exchange, consultation and assistance in relation to abnormal situations in the marine 
environment.