Abstract
Water management has traditionally looked at the physical-chemical measurements which arenot enough to protect the ecosystems in a more detailed watershed management. TheEuropean Union (EU) and Brazil have been attempting to improve their water status by theimplementation of the Water Frame Directive (WFD) and the Brazil's National WaterResources Plan (PNRH) respectively. Despite of many similarities between the policies, theymainly differ in the use of bioindicators. Macroinvertebrates are the most common biologicalindicator used to show disturbances in the water bodies. The aim of this paper is to explainhow macroinvertebrates have been adopted to classify the ecological status of the waterbodies by the Brazilian and EU water policies. In the WFD it was defined the AQEMbiomonitoring program, which uses macroinvertebrates index. On the other hand, the PNRHdoes not require biomonitoring. The use of bioindicators is the main difference between bothwater management policies. It reflects the concept of the water as a resource in Brazil and asan ecosystem in the EU.
Highlights
Human activities impact most of the river basins and adjacent seas [!]
The objective here is to spell out how macroinvertebrates have been adopted to classify the ecological status of the water bodies by the Brazilian and European Union water policies
This same author states that the water resources are not faced as aquatic ecosystems in that law, Usually the evaluation is perfonned only taking into account physical and chemical variables
Summary
Human activities impact most of the river basins and adjacent seas [!]. Worldwide water management has been improving in the recent past. Water management has traditionally looked at the physical-chemical measurements, which are enough to regulate effluent discharge and protect human health, but not to protect the ecosystems in a more detailed watershed management [5]. It means that the health of the aquatic ecosystems has been "virtually ignored in a management context" [6]. Macroinvertebrates are the most common biological indicator used to show disturbances in the water bodies [5, 9] Their use can assist decision-makers in defining restoration and conservation strategies [IOJ. They help to monitor biodiversity and water quality in watersheds [IO]. This paper will help us to understand how water management has used the benthic macroinvertebrates index, and what the legal differences are between the two sites
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