Reaching a Common Understanding of Good Ecological Status for Monitoring European Rivers

Abstract

The WFD implementation process is a unique example of collaboration among different sovereign countries that share a common vision on the sustainable use and protection of water resources that extend beyond physical national borders. Through the intercalibration process, EU countries have translated the narrative criteria of ecological status set in the Directive text into numerical boundaries that are harmonized among the many different assessment systems in use throughout Europe. Those boundaries will be considered when preparing the river management plans, the main instruments to achieve the environmental objective of ¿good¿ ecological status for all European surface waters by 2015.