Relationships between ecological status of surface waters and both chemical and hydromorphological pressures

Abstract

The main objective of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to achieve and maintain good chemical and ecological status by 2015. In recent decades, the chemical water quality of many rivers, lakes and coastal waters has improved because of reductions in major pressures. However, observations in many water bodies show that ecological quality is still at risk. Therefore, there is a requirement for a better understanding of the relationships between anthropogenic pressures, chemical quality and ecosystem response. The REBECCA project aims to meet this requirement by reviewing existing knowledge and developing relationships between the biological quality elements and both the hydromorphological and physico-chemical quality elements. This paper gives a short survey of known relationships, outlines where REBECCA will address gaps in existing knowledge, and presents results from preliminary analyses of integrated data sets.