‘Good Ecological Status of Surface Water’ – Technical Provision or Legal Norm?

Abstract

This article addresses the Water Framework Directive and the legal norm 'good ecological status' with respect to the ecological quality of bodies of surface water, and examines the connections between ecology and law in this regard. The legal norm 'good ecological status' refers to the structure and function of ecosystems. In terms of ecology, the concepts of good structure and functioning of an ecosystem reflect a resilient ecosystem of high quality, with a high level of adaptive capacity. However, further legal provisions of the Directive, concerning assessment of the status of surface waters, compromise this concept. The Directive's approach assumes that taking a given body of water, and quantifying certain fixed biological elements in this body on the basis of the Directive's guidelines and the national classification systems developed from those guidelines, it is possible to accurately assess the structure and function of the body of water. This approach is legally manageable, but highly contestable from an ecological perspective, which suggests the necessity of reconsidering the Directive's approach.