Danube Blues

The Danube River in Europe may be blue, but it's not very green -- and its environmental problems are slated to get even worse, the World Wildlife Fund warns in a report being released today. More than 80 percent of the river's wetlands and flood plains have already been destroyed in the name of flood protection, agriculture, power production, and shipping, the report says. Now, plans to deepen parts of the channel for new shipping routes and construct additional canals and dams could endanger what remains. WWF says the changes would alter or destroy almost a million acres of protected river sites in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria. The group says the governments should look instead to technological improvements in ships and navigation.