Title: River monitoring in the EU Water Resources Framework Directive WFD by Prof Maria LazaridouDimitriado
1River monitoring in the EU Water Resources
Framework Directive (WFD) by Prof Maria
Lazaridou-DimitriadouEmail mlazarid_at_bio.auth.gr
Department of Zoology, AUTH, 54006 Thessaloniki,
GREECE
2How the WFD will work?
- The new Directive represents an ambitious and
innovative approach to water management. Key
elements of the legislation include - The protection of all waters - rivers, lakes,
coastal waters and groundwaters. - The setting of ambitious objectives to ensure
that all waters meet good status by 2015. - The requirement for cross border co-operation
between countries and all involved parties. - Ensuring the active participation of all
stakeholders, including NGOs and local
communities, in water management activities. - Requiring water pricing policies and ensuring
that the polluter pays. - Balancing the interests of the environment with
those who depend on it. So
3Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC)
- Protects all waters groundwater and surface
waters, including coastal waters - Good water status (environmental objective) by
December 2015 and effective river basin
management plans (RBMP) - The Ecological status of aquatic ecosystems is
emphasised - Quality is measured in ecological terms
4Ecological quality elements
- MS must monitor parameters indicative of the
status of - each of the following relevant river quality
elements - Biological fish, benthic invertebrate fauna,
aquatic flora - Hydromorphological hydrological regime
(quantity dynamics of water flow, connection to
groundwater), river continuity, depth and width,
river bed structure, riparian zone structure - Physico-chemical thermal oxygenation
conditions, salinity, acidification status,
nutrients, priority substances, other pollutants
discharged in significant quantities
5Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC)
- Water pricing as an incentive for the wise use of
water - Getting citizens more closely involved into
planning and decision taking processes - Streamlining legislation
6River monitoring in the WFD
- It covers volume and rate of flow, chemical
status and ecological status/potential - Preliminary assessment of human impacts (end
2004) - Accomodate monitoring programmes according to WFD
(by end 2006) - Maps produced and first results presented (by end
2009, publication of RBMP) - Presentation of monitoring results in the first
RBMP update (by end of 2015 and every 6 yr. after
that) - WFD Art.8 and Annex V (section 1.3 and 1.1, 1.2)
7Deadlines
- December 2003. National and regional laws to be
adapted to the WFD. River Basin co-operation to
be made operational. - December 2004. An analysis of pressures and
impacts on our waters has to be completed
including an economic analysis. - December 2006. Monitoring programmes have to be
operational as a basis for the water management. - December 2008. River Basin Management plans
presented to the public. - December 2009. Publishing first River Basin
Management Plans. - December 2015. Water to meet good status.
8WFD River typology
Bes. pol. Kontrolle/Regulierung von Marktgeschehen
- WFD monitoring methodologies and measures apply
to all - types of rivers
- WFD classifies rivers into different types
according to ecoregions (25) and ecotypes (System
A and B, Annex II) - System A classifies rivers according to altitude,
catchment size and geology - System B uses obligatory (altitude, size,
geology, latitude, longitude) and optional factors
Ziele mit Rückwirkung auf Struktur Regulierung
9System A
10Ecoregions for rivers and lakes
11System B
12Monitoring types
- 3 types surveillance, operational and
investigative - Intensity of river monitoring is risk and
pressure proportional - General set of rules on frequency for
surveillance monitoring are biological
parameters every 3y. (phytoplankton every 6 m.),
hydromorphological every 6y. (hydrology
continuously), physico-chemical every 3 m.
(priority substances every 1m.) - BUT countries can adjust frequency and timing
according to specific conditions and needs - Rivers providing drinking water monitored 4-12x a
year
Europäische Benchmarking aufbauen
Umweltindikatoren im Benchmarking
13Surveillance monitoring network
- Why - validate the impact assessment procedure
- serve as basis for future monitoring programmes,
- assess long-term changes in natural conditions
and changes resulting from widespread
anthropogenic activity - Where at points of significant water flow (gt 2
500 km² catchment area) - at rivers crossing a Member State boundary,
- at sampling sites identified under the
Information Exchange Decision 77/795/EEC - How often - Physicochemical parameters every 3m.
(priority substances every 1m) for a period of
one year, - biological and hydromorphological once in the 6
years of the RBMP
einmaliger Wettbewerb
Marktmacht über mehrere Stufen
Systemwettbewerb
14(No Transcript)
15Operational monitoring network
- Why establish and monitor the status of rivers
being at risk to fail the environmental
objectives - Monitor rivers that receive priority list
substances - Where At sufficient points according to the
sources of pollution/disturbance (hot spots) - How often frequency chosen by MS on a
case-by-case basis. General set of rules for
frequency should be used as a guideline
16Investigative Monitoring
Why - where reasons for any exceedances are
unknown - ascertain causes of failure of
environmental objectives - ascertain
magnitude and impact of accidental
pollution Where and how often
Case-specific Sampling points and frequencies
shall be set according to the problem identified
17Methods of river monitoring
- For sampling, sample handling, identification etc
- ISO and EN international standards
- such already exist for macroinvertebrate
sampling, physicochemical and hydromorphological
parameters - for the other quality elements, such standards
will be developed under the supervision of the
WFD Committee - or equivalent national or international methods
18Standards for monitoring of quality elements
- Macroinvertebrate sampling
- ISO 5667-3 1995 Water Quality - Sampling - Part
3 Guidance on the preservation and handling of
samples - EN 27828 1994 Water Quality Methods for
biological sampling Guidance on hand net
sampling of benthic macroinvertebrates - EN 28265 1994 Water Quality Methods of
biological sampling Guidance on the design and
use of quantitative samplers for benthic
macroinvertebrates on stony substrata in shallow
waters - EN ISO 9381 1995 Water Quality Sampling in
deep waters for macroinvertebrates Guidance on
the use of colonisation, qualitative and
quantitative samplers. - EN ISO 8689 - 11999 Biological Classification of
Rivers PART I Guidance on the Interpretation of
Biological Quality Data from Surveys of Benthic
Macroinvertebrates in Running Waters - EN ISO 8689 - 21999 Biological Classification of
Rivers PART II Guidance on the Presentation of
Biological Quality Data from Surveys of Benthic
Macroinvertebrates in Running Waters - Macrophyte sampling
- Relevant CEN / ISO Standards when developed
- Fish sampling
- Relevant CEN / ISO Standards when developed
- Diatom sampling
- Relevant CEN/IISO Standards when developed
- Standards for physicochemical parameters
- Any Relevant CEN / ISO Standards
- Standards for hydromorphological parameters
- Any Relevant CEN / ISO Standards
19Classification of ecological status
- Rivers classified into 5 categories high, good,
moderate, poor,bad - The undisturbed (natural) status serves as
reference - (identification of reference biological
communities for each type of water body) - Ecological Quality Ratios These consist of the
Observed value divided by the Expected value as
derived from reference conditions (0bad, 1high
ecological status)
20Result presentation
- Results presented in maps for each River Basin
District - Colour-coded for the five ecological status
levels
21Chemical status classification and presentation
- Two categories
- Good when a river complies with all
environmental quality standards of Annex IX,
Art.16 and other relevant legislation - Failing to achieve good chemical status when it
does not comply with the above
22Classification of ecological status
- The ecological status will be represented by the
lower of the EQR-values for the biological and
physicochemical monitoring results for the
relevant quality elements (principle
One-out-All-out) - Intercalibration network to ensure comparability
(by 2004). Resulting values for each Member State
classification by 2006 - Important to select indicators for the biological
quality elements (practicability and
cost-effectiveness of monitoring)
23Classification of ecological statusexample for
the element Benthic macroinvertebrates
24Current River monitoring
- Different methodologies and systems in the
various EU countries - Most usual problem is lack of coverage of
biological parameters - WWF Water and Wetland Index report (rough
estimate) - Good SF, S, B (Flanders), DK, CH, EST
- With significant gaps UK, B (Wallonia), A, D,
HU, F, SK - Moderate GR, E, Bulgaria, Turkey
25Challenges
- Assess existent information, resources and tools
- Remodel of existing networks
- Decide on most
- cost-effective
- practicable
- best environmental solutions
26On-going projects
- Individual country pilot projects, e.g. Germany
and Finland - Project AQEM running at a European level
- - www.aqem.de
- Pan-European Working Group on Guidance to WFD
Monitoring - It will assist MS in their interpretation of the
general monitoring criteria and methods provided
by the WFD (duration 2001-2006)
27Pan-European Working Group
- Expected Outcome
- Recognise and describe the present monitoring
network and organisation in each Member State - Prepare informal guidance documents on
- the design of a monitoring network (selection of
monitoring sites, GIS representation etc) - Monitoring procedures/protocols in accordance to
Annex V - Criteria for the assessment of ecological,
chemical, quantitative status and ecological
potential - Monitoring data management