The Danube, Tisa and Maros rivers are the most prominent environmental heritage of the cross-border region. Hence, both the Hungarian and Serbian sides are interested in the quality of these surface waters, as the drinking water supply systems are based exclusively on local ground waters. The major problems are high content of organic matter (humic acids, phenols, etc.) and lack of adequate water treatment, as ground water cannot often be used without prior treatment. In view of the low level of environmental protection, along with the insufficiently effective wastewater treatment and uncontrolled pollution emission, unacceptable from the viewpoint of preserving natural and cultural heritage, the objective of this project is to develop simple and economic methods for cleaning and grooming waters with high content of organic compounds and emerging micropollutants, to improve their chemical and microbiological parameters, as well as to develop simple biological and chemical procedures for their characterization and removal. With the development of methods based on ozonation (with and without UV irradiation), UV irradiation (using various radiation sources) with and without addition of hydrogen peroxide, and heterogeneous photocatalysis based on the application of TiO2 using UV and Vis light, the formation of potentially carcinogenic and mutagenic intermediates and degradation products in drinking and biologically pretreated wastewaters could be avoided. The first research phase will be concerned with model solutions of particular pollutants, and then the attention will be focused on the determination of pollutants in the rivers (Danube and Tisa), and groundwaters, on the examination of the efficiency of the selected methods in degradation of these pollutants by spiking water samples with the identified pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Kinetic parameters of degradation of selected pollutants will be determined along with testing how the nature of the water influences efficiency of photodegradation. The kinetics and mechanism of degradation will be studied by: HPLC-DAD, HPLC-MS, IC, TOC, potentiometry and spectrophotometry. Also, zooplanktons, algae and bacteria will be used to examine toxicity of degradation products generated in all the degradation methods, while the mutagenity of those obtained in the most efficient methods will be examined by the Ames and SOS tests. Furthermore, our aim is to improve local infrastructure, to enhance the capability of the research groups to perform complex analytical and microbiological methods for characterization of developed water treatment technologies, like the Advanced Oxidation Processes. In our vision, on the basis of common opportunities and complementing potentials of the Serbian and Hungarian sides, the Universities of Novi Sad and Szeged and other organizations will improve capacities and competitiveness of the region through joint activities, as well as support the transfer of knowledge between them.