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Environmental information systems
Under the Water Framework Directive, the chemical status of surface waters is assessed based on a Europe-wide list of priority substances. Environmental quality standards (EQS), set to protect the most sensitive species, provide the threshold to assess status. If one EQS is exceeded, the water body fails to meet good chemical status.
Priority substances causing failure to good chemical status
The table shows the priority substance, the number of surface water bodies failing good chemical status for that substance, the number of categories (up to 5, for rivers, lakes, transitional, coastal and territorial waters), and the number of countries reporting that priority substance. The higher the numbers, the more widespread the substance is across Europe. The total number of monitored surface water bodies is .
It is possible to filter by 2nd or 3rd River Basin Management Plan, EU-27 or country, and by pollutant name.
Mercury and brominated diphenylethers (or “brominated flame retardants”) cause large areas of Europe’s surface waters to fail to achieve good chemical status.
The table of the 3rd River Basin Management Plans shows the data of Countries that so far have reported electronically to the EEA for this third cycle and included in the "EU 27": Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. Norway has also reported and its data can be seen using the country filter.