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Welcome to WISE - Freshwater
Resources
This WISE Freshwater section is offering several data (derived) products, such as dashboards, interactive maps and layers, which present or are used as basis for assessing the status of freshwater resources. In most of the case the sources are databases storing data and information reported by Member States under legislative reporting obligations and managed by the Reportnet infrastructure .
Europe’s Freshwater
This section introduces to specific assessments, following the same structure and order of the other WISE Freshwater sections, the content is organised by main legislative framework (which is structured according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD), and its daughter Directives.
Policy and Reporting
The section of the portal is presenting an overview of the current environmental policies related to freshwater topics, the European policy agenda for the upcoming years and he EU Water policies contributing to the international context.
Countries
The country profile pages aim to showcase selected environmental data, reported by Countries, under different European legal instruments contributing to the protection of freshwaters or national laws, implementing these policies. Statistics at Country level, usually calculated under the coordination of the European Environment Agency, could also be included to complement the overview of freshwaters’ status and of the policies’ implementation.
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Surface water ecological status-old
Surface water ecological status
Ecological status assesses surface water ecosystems' structure and function quality, revealing impacts like pollution and habitat degradation. The dashboards below summarize diverse results on ecological status.
Delineation of surface water bodies dashboards
The Water Framework Directive asks Member States to characterise all their 'surface water bodies' (SWB), i.e. identify the location and the boundaries of the water bodies and classify them according to certain pre-defined surface water categories. Consequently, Member States have delineated SWBs in the river basin districts and reported different data to characterize water bodies such as length (rivers) or area (lakes), national type, and information if a surface water body is designated as heavily modified or artificial. The dashboards below provide an overview of different results related to delineation of SWBs.
Surface water chemical status
For surface waters, good chemical status means that no concentrations of priority substances exceed the relevant Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) as established in the Environmental Quality Standards Directive 2008/105/EC. EQS aim to protect the most sensitive species from direct toxicity, including predators and humans via secondary poisoning. A smaller group of priority hazardous substances were identified in the Priority Substances Directive as uPBT (ubiquitous, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic). The uPBTs are mercury, brominated diphenyl ethers (pBDE), tributyltin and certain polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The dashboards below provide an overview of the different results related to chemical status.
Surface water quality element status
Ecological status is determined for rivers, lakes, transitional, and coastal waters based on biological quality elements (phytoplankton, macrophytes, phytobenthos, benthic invertebrate fauna and fish), and supporting physico-chemical (nutrients, oxygen condition, temperature, transparency, salinity and river basin specific pollutants (RBSPs)) and hydromorphological quality elements. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) specifies which elements are to be assessed for each water category and requires that biological and supporting quality elements achieve at least good status. The dashboards below provide an overview of the different results related to quality element status.
Surface water significant pressures and impacts
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the identification of significant pressures from point sources of pollution, diffuse sources of pollution, modifications of flow regimes through abstractions or regulation and morphological alterations, as well as any other pressures. ‘Significant’ means that the pressure contributes to an impact that may result in failing to meet the WFD objectives of not having at least good status. In some cases, the pressure from several drivers, e.g. water abstraction from agriculture and households, may in combination be significant. The dashboards below provide an overview of the different results related to pressures and impacts on surface water bodies.
Exemptions to the environmental objectives
In certain situations, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) allows the Member States to report exemptions to achieving “good status” in water bodies. Applying this exemption results in lower environmental target standards, namely the good ecological potential instead of the good ecological status. The dashboards below provide an overview of different results related to exemptions to the environmental objectives.
Delineation of groundwater bodies
Member States have delineated groundwater bodies in the river basin districts and reported different data to characterize water bodies such as area, aquifer type and productivity. The dashboards below provide an overview of different results related to delineation of groundwater bodies.
Groundwater chemical status
For groundwater bodies to meet the aim of good chemical status, hazardous substances should be prevented from entering groundwater, and the entry of all other pollutants (e.g. nitrates) should be limited. The dashboards below provide an overview of the different results related to chemical status.
Groundwater quantitative status
The WFD requires Member States to designate separate groundwater bodies and ensure that each one achieves 'good chemical and quantitative status'. Good quantitative status can be achieved by ensuring that the available groundwater resource is not reduced by the long-term annual average rate of abstraction. In addition, impacts on surface water linked with groundwater or groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems should be avoided, as should saline intrusions. The dashboards below provide an overview of the different results related to quantitative status.
Groundwater significant pressures and impacts
The WFD requires the identification of significant pressures from point sources of pollution, diffuse sources of pollution, modifications of flow regimes through abstractions or regulation and morphological alterations, as well as any other pressures. ‘Significant’ means that the pressure contributes to an impact that may result in failing to meet the WFD objectives of not having at least good status. In some cases, the pressure from several drivers, e.g. water abstraction from agriculture and households, may in combination be significant. The dashboards below provide an overview of the different results related to pressures and impacts on surface and groundwater bodies.
Bathing water quality interactive map
Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) requires Member States to ensure that urban areas collect and treat waste water which would otherwise pollute rivers, lakes and seas. By doing so, urban waste water treatment (UWWT) plays a key role in supporting the EU towards the zero pollution ambition set out in the European Green Deal, protecting human health and aquatic ecosystems. UWWT also has an important role to play in the circular economy, enabling the reuse of treated waste water and sewage sludge, the production of renewable energy, and the recycling of nutrients. The importance of access to clean water and sanitation is embedded in Goal 6 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals . Supplying clean water and collecting waste water has required huge investment across Europe in recent decades.
Floods Directive
Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) on the assessment and management of flood risks requires Member States to assess if all water courses and coast lines are at risk from flooding, to map the flood extent and assets and humans at risk in these areas and to take adequate and coordinated measures to reduce this flood risk.
WISE Freshwater
Groundwater chemical status
Groundwater provides a major source of drinking water for many EU citizens and provides the steady base flow of rivers and wetlands. Keeping groundwater free of pollution is vital for humans and river and wetland ecosystems. Once pollutants are in groundwater, recovery can take years or even many decades because of residence times and the slow degradation of pollutants.
Groundwater quantitative status
Groundwater quantitative status is one of two assessments made for groundwater under the Water Framework and the Groundwater Directives. The other assessment is groundwater chemical status. Groundwater aquifers provide around 42% of the total water abstraction in Europe, most of which is used for public water supply, agricultural activities, and industry. In Europe, about half of the drinking water is taken from groundwater, with many large cities depending on it for their water supply. Groundwater is also used for irrigation. There can be multiple uses affecting the quantitative status of a groundwater body.
Surface water chemical status
Within the Water Framework Directive, two status assessments for surface waters are conducted: Ecological Status and Chemical Status. Chemical status is an assessment of the amount of priority substances in the aquatic environment. Good chemical status is achieved when no priority substances exceed agreed standards.
Surface water ecological status
Within the Water Framework Directive, two status assessments for surface waters are conducted: Ecological Status and Chemical Status. Ecological Status provides a composite assessment of the quality of surface water ecosystems, reflecting the cumulative effects of various pressures like pollution, habitat degradation, and climate change.