The river that once inspired Johann Strauss' most famous waltz, The Blue Danube, may soon be doing the Danse Macabre unless restoration efforts go up-tempo, according to a World Wildlife Fund report released on Tuesday.

Of particular concern are the major alterations that have been made to the Danube's natural flow to generate power, control floods, and improve shipping. Irrigation has also taken its toll. Altogether, the WWF report warns, some 80 percent of the watershed's wetlands, floodplains and forests have been destroyed.

"What remains of the basin's integrity is under intense threat from shipping infrastructure developments," says the report. Pollution, invasive species and climate change are also cited as major threats to the river.

The Danube River basin includes all or part of 19 countries in Europe, including 10 European Union member states. Yet, despite its massive influence on the industry, agriculture, transport, power generation and tourism in these countries, only 6.6 percent of the basin is currently protected, the report says.

The report comes exactly a year after the World Water Forum in Mexico at which governments pledged to improve access to safe drinking water the world over. As delegates gathered in Turkey on Tuesday to prepare the next forum to be held in March 2009, the WWF on Tuesday said that not enough is being done to follow up on the promises made last year. The group said more needs to be done to prevent freshwater systems like the Danube River basin from being overexploited.

"The freshwater crisis … mirrors the extent to which unabated development is jeopardizing nature's ability to meet our growing demands," Jamie Pittock, head of WWF's freshwater program, told the AP.

When it comes to the Danube, more exploitation may be on the way. Because navigational infrastructure projects are the main cause of environmental damage to the river, WWF names the EU's plan to develop the Trans-European Networks for Transport (TEN-T) along the Danube as its greatest threat.

The project, which intends to iron out bottlenecks and create a transport link between the North Sea and the Black Sea, would require considerable alterations to more than 1,000 kilometers of the Danube, including the last remaining naturally flowing and dam-free sections.