Good Water Quality for Europe - Challenges in the WFD Ecological Quality Assessment

The Water Framework Directive (WFD; 2000/60/EC) creates a legislative framework to manage and protect surface and groundwater resources in the European Union (EU). The WFD aims to achieve good ecological quality, and to prevent further deterioration of surface waters. Evaluation of the surface water quality should be based on the impact of anthropogenic pressures on aquatic ecosystems. Such requirements are novel in the European water policy, which has been mostly based on the regulation of emission limit values rather than assessment of the impacts. Evaluation of the ecological quality status of surface water bodies is based on biological quality elements such as phytoplankton, fish, and benthic flora and fauna. Biological indicators that are representative for those quality elements should allow classification of ecological quality based on functional relationships between pressures and indicators. Currently, it is a challenge to develop scientifically sound, high-precision, and practical classification tools that can be used for WFD compliant monitoring and assessment of ecological water quality targets. Further, to ensure comparable definition of good ecological status and a similar level of protection across the EU, WFD requires an intercalibration exercise to compare the results of the national ecological assessment systems.

HEISKANEN Anna-Stiina; 

2007-02-09

Cowifonden

JRC34458