Abstract
The European Commission Water Framework Directive (WFD) was established 16 years ago and forms the current basis for monitoring surface waters and groundwater in Europe. This legislation resulted in a necessary adaptation of the monitoring networks and programs for rivers, lakes, and transitional and coastal waters to the requirements of the WFD at German and European levels. The present study reviews the most important objectives of both the monitoring of surface waters and the principles of the WFD monitoring plan. Furthermore, we look at the changes water monitoring in Germany has undergone over the past sixteen years and we summarize monitoring results from German surfaces waters under the WFD. Comparisons of European approaches for biological assessments, of standards set for physical and chemical factors and of environmental quality standards for pollutants reveal the necessity for further European-wide harmonization. The objective of this harmonization is to improve comparability of the assessment of the ecological status of waters in Europe, and thus also to more coherently activate action programs of measures.
Highlights
Water management poses a major challenge in many densely populated countries throughout the world
Hydromorphological and physico-chemical quality elements (QEs) are only used as supporting elements in the assessment of the ecological status and to provide supporting indications of major pressures in a specific water body, which is important for the subsequent determination of measures
It is difficult to exactly quantify the degree to which European water monitoring has intensified. This is because the monitoring and assessment of the environmental state of European waters are performed by regional and national authorities, and the results are summarized for the state of the environment (SOE) assessments by the Environment Agency (EEA) at river basin district scale
Summary
Water management poses a major challenge in many densely populated countries throughout the world. The major aim of the WFD is to reach good water quality in all European waters by managing water bodies, i.e., lakes, rivers, groundwater bodies, transitional waters and coastal waters by 2027 at the latest. The WFD declares a unified and harmonized water protection framework for all European countries. Unified in this context means that European waters have been consolidated into large river basin districts managed collaboratively by the Member States (MS) concerned. The WFD aims at harmonized water protection regulations within the European Union (EU). The monitoring and management unit of the WFD is the “water body”. It is defined as a discrete and significant element of surface water, which is uniform in type and status
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