Status Of Water Bodies Research Articles

WFD Ecological Quality Indicators Are Poorly Correlated with Water Levels in River Catchments in Tuscany (Italy)

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires European countries to achieve a good ecological status of surface water bodies and demands that River District Authorities define ecological flows consistently. Nevertheless, the relationship between ecological and hydrological indicators is not fully understood and not straightforward to apply because ecological and hydrological indicators are monitored by different institutions, with different timings and purposes. This work examines the correlation between a set of ecological indicators monitored by environmental agencies (STAR-ICMi, LIMeco, IBMR, and TDI) and water levels with assigned durations monitored by the hydrologic service in Tuscany (central Italy). Reference water levels are derived from stage-duration curves obtained by the statistical analysis of daily levels in the same year of ecological sampling. The two datasets are paired through a geospatial association for the same river reach and the correlation is measured through Pearson’s r. The results show poor correlation (r between −0.33 and −0.42) between ecological indicators and hydrologic variables, confirming the findings observed in other Italian catchments with different hydrologic regimes, climate, and anthropogenic pressures. Nevertheless, the negative correlations show a decreasing water quality with water depths, i.e., in the lower part of the catchments more affected by anthropogenic pressures. These findings suggests that the determination of ecological flows with a purely hydrological approach is not sufficient for achieving WFD objectives in the study area.

Water quality assessment of the rivers of the Southern Buh Basin within Vinnytsia Region as per integral indicator of pollution

Vinnytsia Region is a region of Ukraine that attracts people by its nature from ancient times to the present day and is subject to various active economic development efforts. Natural water (aquatic) objects such rivers, lakes, as well as their floodplains and watersheds, are among the ones that are intensively affected by human activities. Therefore, the author chose the basin of the Southern Buh River within Vinnytsia Region for establishing a degree of anthropogenic transformation in the river itself and for determining the state of its left tributaries.
 The paper highlights the results of field and laboratory studies of chemical and organoleptic state of water of the Southern Buh and its tributaries. The study of the Southern Buh Basin was conducted within Vinnytsia Region, as it is a region of early agricultural development and it has a large number of enterprises of various industries on its territory. Since the basin occupies a large area of Vinnytsia Region, it was reasonable to explore the main tributaries of the Southern Buh flowing through the main localities, and to identify the required sampling points.
 Currently, the problem of ensuring rational use of water resources is severe because of such factors as growth of water consumption, irrational use of natural resources, excessive and uncontrolled economic activity. All these factors lead to disruption of relations within geosystems, degradation of natural components and decrease of natural resources productivity. Therefore, the study of a degree of anthropogenic transformation of landscape complexes, including geosystems, allows identification of a possibility to reverse anthropogenic changes and display intensity and tendencies of natural processes after transformation of the complexes, as well as display of ability of natural components of the landscape to self-restore. All these components are necessary for field researches and form a basis for the author's research.
 The aim of the research is to conduct an assessment of the ecological status of surface waters, which serves as one of components of the general status of water bodies, as well as to determine their chemical status based on concentrations of high-priority hazardous pollutants. It establishes the fact that the quality of surface waters of the basin depends on a degree of pollution of water bodies that are subject to economic activity affecting the transformation of the basin system.

WATER QUALITY FORECASTING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF RUNOFF BASED ON A MATHEMATICAL MODEL

Runoff is one of the main sources of diffuse pollution of surface water. Suspended solids are the most typical contaminants of runoff. Suspended solids have a great influence on water quality and ecological status of water bodies. The content of suspended solids in water bodies is determined not only by their receipt from external sources, but also by the ability to transport sediments by flow. There is a permanent exchange of suspended solids between water bodies and bottom deposits. This fact stimulates specific requirements for modeling the transfer of suspended solids. For the most cases, models which describe the transfer of suspensions in a turbulent flow are based on the three-dimensional equation of turbulent diffusion or its two-dimensional simplification, which allows to take into account the spatial distribution of substances or it’s distribution to the width of stream. The use of such models requires a significant amount of initial data to determine the parameters of the models and is associated with a significant amount of calculations. At the same time, one-dimensional interpretation of processes is common and practically sufficient for shallow watercourses. It is more important to take into account the dynamics of the exchange of suspended solids between water mass and bottom deposits. The article is devoted to the development of a mathematical model for estimating the influence of non - point sources of pollution on the content of suspended solids in narrow watercourses. The model is based on the principle of mass balance of substances entering the flow section and takes into account the processes of sedimentation and resedimentation of suspended solids. A mathematical model in the form of a differential equation for the case of normal and overloaded flow is developed. Analytical solutions of equations for both cases are obtained. The influence of hydraulic size of the suspension on the content of suspended solids in watercourses and its distribution along the flow length is analyzed. The developed model was used for estimation of the impact of runoff from the urban area of Kharkiv city (Ukraine) on the river Lopan. The model demonstrated satisfactory compliance with field data.

Modeling eutrophication risks in Tanes reservoir by using a hybrid WOA optimized SVR-relied technique along with feature selection based on the MARS approximation

Total phosphorus (from now on mentioned as TP) and chlorophyll-a (from now on mentioned as Chl-a) are recognized indicators for phytoplankton large quantity and biomass-thus, actual estimates of the eutrophic state-of water bodies (i.e., reservoirs, lakes and seas). A robust nonparametric method, called support vector regression (SVR) approach, for forecasting the output Chl-a and TP concentrations coming from 268 samples obtained in Tanes reservoir is described in this investigation. Previously, we have carried out a selection of the main features (biological and physico-chemical predictors) employing the multivariate adaptive regression splines approximation to construct reduced models for the purpose of making them easier to interpret for researchers/readers and to reduce the overfitting. As an optimizer, the heuristic technique termed as whale optimization iterative algorithm (WOA), was employed here to optimize the regression parameters with success. Two main results have been obtained. Firstly, the relative relevance of the models variables was stablished. Secondly, the Chl-a and TP can be successfully foretold employing this hybrid WOA/SVR-based approximation. The coincidence between the predicted approximation and the observed data obviously demonstrates the quality of this novel technique.

What drives the ecological quality of surface waters? A review of 11 predictive modeling tools

What policy is needed to ensure that good-quality water is available for both people's needs and the environment? The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), which came into force in 2000, established a framework for the assessment, management, protection and improvement of the status of water bodies across the European Union. However, recent reviews show that the ecological status of the majority of surface waters in the EU does not meet the requirement of good status. Thus, it is an important question what measures water management authorities should take to improve the ecological status of their water bodies. To find concrete answers, several institutes in the Netherlands cooperated to develop a software tool, the WFD Explorer, to assist water managers in selecting efficient measures. This article deals with the development of prediction tools that allow one to calculate the effect of restoration and mitigation measures on the biological quality, expressed in terms of Ecological Quality Ratios (EQRs).To find the ideal modeling tool we give a review of 11 predictive models: 10 models from the field of Machine Learning and, additionally, the Multiple Regression model. We present our results in terms of a ‘prediction-interpretation competition’. All these models were tested in a multiple-stressor setting: the values of 15 stressors (or steering factors) are available to predict the EQR values of four biological quality elements (phytoplankton, other aquatic flora, benthic invertebrates and fish). Analyses are based on 29 data sets from various water clusters (streams, ditches, lakes, channels). All 11 models were ranked by their predictive performance and their level of model transparency. Our review shows a trade-off between these two aspects. Models that have the best EQR prediction performance show non-transparent model structures. These are Random Forest and Boosting. However, models with low prediction accuracies show transparent response relationships between EQRs on the one hand and individual steering factors on the other hand. These models are Multiple Regression, Regression Trees and Product Unit Neural Networks. To acknowledge both aspects of model quality – predictive power and transparency – we recommend that models from both groups are implemented in the WFD Explorer software.

Plants, Mosses, Charophytes, Protozoan, and Bacteria Water Quality Indicators for Assessment of Organic Pollution and Trophic Status of Continental Water Bodies

Abstract This paper presents data compilation for indicator species of organic pollution and trophic state of continental waters. Information was collected from research papers, monographs, electronic resources, and our research. Altogether 316 species of higher plants, plants, mosses, charophytes, protozoan, and bacteria from 11 taxonomical phyla are represented with ecological preferences for saprobity indicators with saprobity index (S) and indicators of trophic state. This comprehensive data can be used for the purpose of aquatic ecosystem assessment and monitoring of water quality based on bioindication methods.

Spatiо-Temporal Study of the Ecological State of Water Bodies Located within the Detached Objects of the Urbanized Territory of Ukraine

Spatiо-Temporal Study of the Ecological State of Water Bodies Located within the Detached Objects of the Urbanized Territory of Ukraine

Trends in the development of systems for monitoring the state of water bodies and the development of a Geo-information system Dniester on the basis of an industrial ІоТ

The work shows that inadequate and untimely hydrological forecasting of the level of flood development leads to significant annual economic damage and loss of life. The latter requires constant control and monitoring of the state of water bodies, which is possible with modern automated control and monitoring systems. The analysis showed that the information and measurement systems (AIMS) for flood control, which are operated in Ukraine, their quantity, cost and technical characteristics do not provide the information necessary for predicting the development of floods.
 Analysis of trends in the development of systems for automated control and monitoring of the state of water bodies showed that modern foreign systems that are at the stage of development or testing are based on the use of microcontrollers, "smart" converters of physical quantities, modern communication systems and Internet of Things technology, as well as the use of smartphones with a Raspberry Pi camera for determining the water level in rivers.
 The development with the use of the industrial Internet of Things of the basic version of the geoinformation system for control and monitoring of the state of water bodies GIS-Dniester is given. The structure, components and functions of GIS-Dniester are considered. The tasks of organizing hardware and software for parameterizing and diagnosing "smart" converters, establishing a communication environment for industrial communication, developing algorithms for collecting, processing and transmitting data, studying the characteristics of measuring signals are being solved. The results of the study of the echo profiles of the XPS10 ultrasonic level sensor with “smart” -converters Multiranger 100, as well as the procedure for working with the GIS-Dniester are presented. The use of the developed GIS-Dniester has shown its effectiveness and reliability in operation.

Distribution of pesticides and some of their transformation products in a small lentic waterbody: Fish, water, and sediment contamination in an agricultural watershed

More than 20 years after the Water Framework Directive was adopted, there are still major gaps in the sanitary status of small rivers and waterbodies at the head of basins. These small streams supply water to a large number of wetlands that support a rich biodiversity. Many of these waterbodies are fishponds whose production is destined for human consumption or for the restocking of other aquatic environments. However, these ecosystems are exposed to contaminants, including pesticides and their transformation products. This work aims to provide information on the distribution, diversity, and concentrations of agricultural contaminants in abiotic and biotic compartments from a fishpond located at the head of watersheds. A total of 20 pesticides and 20 transformation products were analyzed by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS in water and sediment sampled monthly throughout a fish production cycle, and in three fish species at the beginning and end of the cycle.The highest mean concentrations were found for metazachlor-OXA (519.48 ± 56.52 ng.L−1) in water and benzamide (4.23 ± 0.17 ng g−1 dry wt.) in sediment. Up to 20 contaminants were detected per water sample and 26 per sediment sample. The transformation products of atrazine (banned in Europe since 2003 but still widely used in other parts of the world), flufenacet, imidacloprid (banned in France since 2018), metazachlor, and metolachlor were more concentrated than their parent compounds. Fewer contaminants were detected in fish and principally prosulfocarb accumulated in organisms during the cycle.Our work brings innovative data on the contamination of small waterbodies located at the head of a basin. The transformation products with the highest frequency of occurrence and concentrations should be prioritized for further environmental monitoring studies, and specific toxicity thresholds should be defined. Few contaminants were found in fish, but the results challenge the widely use of prosulfocarb.

The Influence of Weather Forecast Resolution on the Circulation of Lake George, NY

AbstractGlobal warming is expected to greatly impact the thermal conditions of inland water bodies. Publicly available weather forecasts sufficiently resolve weather patterns above large lakes to satisfactorily force a lake hydrodynamics model, we suspect this is not the case for smaller lakes. We address this issue using weather outputs from a numerical weather prediction model at three different resolutions (3 km, 1 and 0.33 km) to force a hydrodynamics model of Lake George, NY for the month of June 2017. We find that increasing the resolution of the weather model improves the accuracy of the simulation, in part through a significant increase in total heat content of the lake. This warming is linked to an increase in downward heat transfer from the atmosphere in the higher resolution experiment, especially in the northern part of the lake where the lake is less than 2 km wide and the simulated surface winds are stronger. Interrogation of the weather model shows the stronger winds originate from a better representation of the land‐lake interface (and thereby surface roughness length) at higher resolution. At the end of the one month simulation, we find the hypolimnetic volume of Lake George has reduced by 15% in the 0.33 km experiment compared to the 3 km experiment. If this discrepancy were systemic it would have obvious consequences for predicting the ecoysystem function over an extended period of small‐to‐medium sized lakes.

Staggered-Entry Analysis of Breeding Phenology and Occupancy Dynamics of Arizona Toads from Historically Occupied Habitats of New Mexico, USA

For species with variable phenology, it is often challenging to produce reliable estimates of population dynamics or changes in occupancy. The Arizona Toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) is a southwestern USA endemic that has been petitioned for legal protection, but status assessments are limited by a lack of information on population trends. Also, timing and consistency of Arizona Toad breeding varies greatly, making it difficult to predict optimal survey times or effort required for detection. To help fill these information gaps, we conducted breeding season call surveys during 2013–2016 and 2019 at 86 historically occupied sites and 59 control sites across the species' range in New Mexico. We estimated variation in mean dates of arrival and departure from breeding sites, changes in occupancy, and site-level extinction since 1959 with recently developed multi-season staggered-entry models, which relax the within-season closure assumption common to most occupancy models. Optimal timing of surveys in our study areas was approximately 5–30 March. Averaged across years, estimated probability of occupancy was 0.58 (SE = 0.09) for historical sites and 0.19 (SE = 0.08) for control sites. Occupancy increased from 2013 through 2019. Notably, even though observer error was trivial, annual detection probabilities varied from 0.23 to 0.75 and declined during the study; this means naïve occupancy values would have been misleading, indicating apparent declines in toad occupancy. Occupancy was lowest during the first year of the study, possibly due to changes in stream flows and conditions in many waterbodies following extended drought and recent wildfires. Although within-season closure was violated by variable calling phenology, simple multi-season models provided nearly identical estimates as staggered-entry models. Surprisingly, extinction probability was unrelated to the number of years since the first or last record at historically occupied sites. Collectively, our results suggest a lack of large, recent declines in occupancy by Arizona Toads in New Mexico, but we still lack population information from most of the species' range.

Impacts of water resources management on land water storage in the North China Plain: Insights from multi-mission earth observations

Natural conditions of surface water bodies and groundwater aquifers in the North China Plain (NCP) have been altered to meet the ever-growing human water demands. Several water resources management measures have been implemented in recent decades to alleviate groundwater depletion, maintain ecological resilience, and sustain agricultural production. This study aims to investigate their impacts on land water storage, and thus obtain a picture of the spatio-temporal variation of water resources over the NCP. Based on multi-mission earth observation datasets, i.e., altimetry (Sentinel-3), synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and spectral imagery (Sentinel-1/2), gravimetry (GRACE/-FO), and microwave sensors (IMERG), as well as reanalysis datasets, we investigate surface water storage (SWS), soil moisture water storage (SMS), and total water storage (TWS) changes. Groundwater storage (GWS) change is subsequently estimated as the residual of the total storage equation.Results show that TWS declined significantly over the past decades (−1.04 ± 0.05 cm/yr in 2004 to 2020), while SMS rebounded after a decreasing trend from 2004 to 2014. The spatial pattern of TWS variations depicts a particularly severe depletion along provincial boundaries. The SWS dynamics reveal that the volumes of three major NCP reservoirs (Guanting, Miyun, and Danjiangkou) increased significantly since around 2014 when the operation of the South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route project (SNWDP-MR) started. Moreover, GWS maintained a depletion rate of −1.05 ± 0.08 cm/yr during 2004–2014 over the whole NCP, while the depletion rate accelerated during 2015–2020 (−1.88 ± 0.38 cm/yr). We also found that the GWS depletion in Beijing (−1.20 ± 0.10 cm/yr during 2004–2014 and −0.79 ± 0.44 cm/yr during 2015–2020) and its surrounding areas has been lowered possibly because of the SNWDP-MR. This study shows how multi-mission satellite earth observation products can be combined to monitor water resources at a regional scale and provide spatio-temporally resolved estimates of the impacts of human-induced changes in the inland water cycle.

Water mites (Hydrachnidia) of temporary ponds of Western Siberia: do the composition and the structure of acarofauna change over a long period of time?

Temporary ponds are specific freshwater habitats in which the characteristic fauna of aquatic organisms is formed. One of the large groups of invertebrates in temporary water bodies is water mites. In this work, water mites were studied in three different types of temporary ponds in the vicinity of the city of Tyumen, Western Siberia. The studies were carried out in two periods with a long time interval between them: in 2008–2010 and 2018–2019. In total, 33 species of water mites from 7 families were identified in the studied ponds. All ponds were dominated by vernal mite species typical for this type of water bodies. Also, they were characterized by similar seasonal dynamics of numbers. The species composition and the number of mites in different ponds varied, which is associated with different physicochemical parameters and the fauna of invertebrates, which served as food objects and hosts for the adults and larvae. Despite the small size and periodic drying of the ponds, the fauna of the mites inhabiting them has changed little over the long period of time that separates the studies. Only in one pond, which became permanent due to the rise of groundwater, significant changes in acarofauna were observed. Considering such constancy of the fauna of water mites of temporary ponds, they can be used as bioindicators of the ecological state of water bodies.

Assessing ecological status in karstic lakes through the integration of phytoplankton functional groups, morphological approach and environmental DNA metabarcoding

Phytoplankton is one of the key Biological Quality Elements within the Water Framework Directive, used to assess the ecological status of surface water bodies. Water samples for phytoplankton identification were collected from April to September at a total of eight sampling sites in all six Croatian natural karstic lakes with an area greater than 0.5 km2. The main objective was to show the comparability of environmental DNA metabarcoding (Illumina sequencing using the hypervariable V9 region of the eukaryotic SSU rRNA gene) with morphologically based assessment and its applicability in assessing the ecological status of lakes. The value of Hungarian lake phytoplankton index (HLPI) indicating the final ecological status was calculated for both datasets using biomass and composition metrics. Chlorophyll a concentration measured using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Spectrophotometer giving two biomass metrics along with the functional group approach (FG) as the composition metric for the complete taxa/operational taxonomic units (OTUs) lists as well as for the taxa/OTUs that contributed more than 5% to the total biomass/number of amplicons gave four to four HLPI values per sample. HLPI values from both approaches were highly correlated (Pearson's r > 0.92) and classified into good or high ecological status, although different compositions and proportions of FGs were recorded, thus giving the important role to the equal or similar factors assignment to different FGs with similar ecological demands and favourable habitats. In 89% of the samples, HLPI values indicate an equal range of ecological status and most differences were found due to different methods of Chlorophyll a measurement. Different composition metrics between approaches showed significant differences (p < 0.05) only in lakes Prošće and Crniševo. This study showed the applicability of the V9 region of 18S rRNA in ecological status assessment for oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes due to the comparable results between approaches, but further development and standardization of eDNA metabarcoding are needed for the implementation in routine monitoring programs.

Assessment of Water Quality Parameters and Aquatic Insect Assemblages in Dalvoy Lake, Mysore District, Karnataka, India.

Water is an indispensable natural resource vital for the survival of all life forms. It contributes significantly to the country's economic prosperity and general well-being. As a result, understanding the status of water bodies is crucial to assure their long-term use. A study on water quality parameters and aquatic insect community was therefore carried on the surface waters of Dalvoy Lake which is spread over an area of 133.43 acres and having a length of 2.2 km. Monthly water samples were collected using one-litre labeled plastic containers from three locations between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Water quality analysis was conducted following standard methods and compared to drinking water specifications. The dissolved oxygen content, total hardness, conductivity, total dissolved solids, and turbidity exceeded the permissible limits. Aquatic insects were collected from the same locations and preserved in 4% formalin. A total of 15 species of aquatic insects belonging to four orders, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Ephemeroptera, were identified in this study. The Hemiptera was shown to be the largest group comprising of 8 species; 4 species of Diptera; 2 species of Coleoptera and a lone species of Ephemeroptera. The computation of aquatic insect dominance status using Engelmann's Scale revealed Diplonychus rusticus, Anisops sp., Enithares sp., Chironomous sp. and Culex sp. as dominant. Biodiversity metrics like the Shannon Index (1.4-2.11) and the evenness index (0.50-0.66) reflect the agitation of the system. Based on the results of the water quality index (163.67) and aquatic insect assemblage, it is evident that the water in Dalvoy Lake is deteriorated and is unfit for domestic usage. The study also indicated the abundance of two genera Chironomous and Culex of the Diptera order which are the index of water pollution. Thus, the present study calls for urgent and strict vigilance and continuous monitoring of this perennial water body for conservation and sustainable management.

Mining the sequential patterns of water quality preceding the biological status of waterbodies

We have implemented a specific data mining process to explore the relationship between biological indices and physico-chemical pressures in rivers. Data were collected in the framework of the French National monitoring network set up to assess the ecological status of rivers under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Chemical parameters and biological indices were collected regularly from 1.781 locations in metropolitan France from 2007 to 2013. The sequential pattern mining process generates closed partially ordered patterns representing a succession of physico-chemical events that precede a given biological index in a given status, validated using a subset of data. This paper focuses on the patterns and their occurrence. We showed that biological statuses depend on these temporal successions of alterations and not only on the last alterations. The physico-chemical statuses of water bodies usually appeared to be higher than their biological statuses, suggesting synergism between toxicants and/or an additive impact of other stressors related to hydromorphology or hydrology. Patterns found in the highest biological status for the biological indices based on macroinvertebrates, diatoms, macrophytes or fish, were characterised by the constancy of a high physico-chemical status over time. By contrast, before indices based on macroinvertebrates and macrophytes, two types of patterns were observed for bad biological status: (1) a chronic multi-pressure pattern, in which pressure categories such as nitrates, pesticides and other organic hydrocarbons, in moderate, poor or bad status, repeated themselves several times over time, or (2) a single occurrence of a degraded pressure category, such as one moderate nitrogen, excluding nitrate, or one poor oxidizable organic matter, among other pressure categories in good status. Extracting such patterns is a promising solution both to disentangle the effects of the different stressors on water quality, and to identify the key temporal sequences among them in a context of multi-stress conditions, which is a challenge currently facing the WFD.

Decadal increase in the ecological status of a North-Atlantic intertidal seagrass meadow observed with multi-mission satellite time-series

Seagrass meadows are monitored in the frame of several environmental programs worldwide, including the Water Framework Directive (WFD), to evaluate the ecological status of European coastal and transitional water bodies. The large size, spatial complexity, and interannual variability of seagrass ecosystems significantly challenge field monitoring. In this study, a multi-mission satellite time-series was used to estimate long-term changes in seagrass status in a macrotidal system dominated by Zostera noltei, at Bourgneuf Bay (French Atlantic coast). Metrics of seagrass extent and density were obtained from Earth Observation (EO) using validated and inter-calibrated Landsat, SPOT and Sentinel2 data from 1985 to 2020. The information provided by satellite data made it possible to compute and compare several seagrass indicators currently in use in several European countries (France, Portugal and UK) within the WFD. Both the seagrass extent and meadow-averaged density displayed increasing trends since 1985. A time-series of merged observations from various satellites revealed a high degree of interannual variability in seagrass extent, with abrupt losses (up to 50% within one year) alternating with periods of slow recovery (typically 4–6 years). The seagrass meadow which was in a moderate status (sensu the WFD) in the 1980s, achieved an overall recurrent good or high status since the mid-1990s. Altogether, the methods and results presented here demonstrated that EO is a reliable source of information for mapping and assessing the status of intertidal seagrass, complementing in situ measurements by providing long-term, spatial view and standardized observation framework. We recommend the systematic use of EO time-series in complement to traditional field measurements in seagrass monitoring programs such as the WFD.

Stakeholder analysis: Mapping the river networks for integrated flood risk management

In recent decades, a change of paradigm in flood risk management (FRM) has been taking place worldwide. The most current legislation and policies reflect this. This change of paradigm implies a gradual transition towards the adoption of more proactive, integrating strategies which require investment in nature-based solutions (NbS) to mitigate flood risk while ensuring the good status of water bodies and restoring river-floodplain systems. To be effective, this transition should be accompanied by an evolution in governance: from top-down approaches to bottom-up schemes in which empowered and well-endowed stakeholder engagement becomes essential. However, the still limited experiences in implementing this combination present numerous potential difficulties and barriers. We use empirical techniques of social network analysis in combination with latent class cluster analysis to diagnose ex-ante these potential challenges to guide policy makers in designing suitable strategies of communication and involvement of stakeholders in the decision-making process. The analysis is carried out in two stages: (i) identifying and examining the relationships of key stakeholders involved in the management, conservation and exploitation of fluvial systems; and (ii) categorising stakeholders according to their perception of the effectiveness of NbS. Only by creating a cohesive and power-balanced river network is it possible to implement just and legitimate FRM strategy.

From Kontrollverlust to Kontrollgewinn: Rediscovering a Meso-Level Normative Hierarchy for Integrated Water Management in England Using On-Line Activities

This paper presents a unique study into how to identify a meso-level normative (i.e., institutional) hierarchy of procedures that aim to deliver the ecological status of waterbodies in the UK. Using traditional survey and workshop methods, the majority of recent studies concentrate on engagement practices between macro- (government bodies) and micro- (local residents) level structures, which can be potentially replicated elsewhere. Meso-level elements (middle-level structures of control) are often regarded as ‘subjective institutional change’, e.g., failures to implement programs locally or misinterpretations of reflexive dialogs with communities. Nevertheless, it is often only meso-level structures that are capable of promoting and replicating policies elsewhere. At the same time, there is increasing appeal by governmental departments for communities to ‘self-organize’ and take responsibility for prioritizing environmental tasks, which themselves might be instigated by local trusts and voluntary organizations, the existence of which remains largely unaccounted for by central offices. The recent proliferation of Twitter accounts, with the prominent themes of water, ecology and ecosystems, which include people, organizations, businesses and ‘bots’ of various types, presents new opportunities for digital methods to gain insights into structures and functions of these virtual communities. We hypothesize that our methods can produce invaluable insights into the ‘crafting’ of environmental institutions through approaches commonly ignored by traditional ‘analog’ meso-level mechanisms. We use the example of Integrated Catchment Management in the UK, and specifically the Tamar Catchment in southwest England, in order to demonstrate how well Twitter can capture this transitory meso-level environmental political system.

Analysis of microplastic concentrations in water and bottom sediments as a new aspect of ecological monitoring

In this article we consider some features of spatial distribution of microplastic particles in water column and bottom sediments of Lake Ladoga based on results of research conducted in 2018-2019. This new type of contamination poses new threats to ecological conditions of water bodies. Considering the growing relevance of this problem, it is important to estimate genesis and scale of this contamination and its spatial and temporal distribution for developing recommendations for managing conditions of water bodies. It is advisable to add microplastic research including analysing microplastic concentrations and chemical composition of the particles to the system of ecological monitoring.