Total nitrogen concentrations at the limnic-marine transition point of the rivers entering the North Sea (or, for the Rhine river, the monitoring station at which the river Germany leaves German territory). It is currently expected that compliance with the management target of good environmental status under the Water Framework Directive and the good environmental status of MSFD can be achieved.

Total phosphorus at the limnic-marine transition point (TP) of rivers draining to the North Sea (or for the river Rhine, the location where the river leaves German territory). There are two different orientation values for TP depending on the river type: Rhine, Elbe, Ems, Weser: Target Value = 0,1, Value Achieved Upper = 0,17, Value Achieved Lower = 0,1, Target Status = Target not yet achieved. - Eider, Treene, Arlau, Bongsieler Canal, Miele: Target Value = 0,3, Value Achieved Upper = 0,24, Value Achieved Lower = 0,14, Target Status = Target achieved. Note: The reporting schema does not permit a double entry of the combination Concentration in water / TP and also does not allow specifying value ranges for Target Value and Value achieved.

Long-distance entries from other sea basins continue to represent an important source of nutrients in the German North Sea waters. Close to the shore (ICEF and ICNF assessment areas), Germany's contribution to nitrogen inputs from water was 54 %, while 12 % came from the Netherlands and 6 % from the UK (Lenhart and Great 2018 unpublished). In the outer German EEZ (valuation areas OFFO and OFI), Germany's contribution to nitrogen depositions decreased to only 2 %, the Netherlands increased to 13 % and the United Kingdom to 11 %. As regards the share of the Netherlands, it has to be taken into account that the nutrient inputs of the Rhine are exclusively allocated to the Netherlands. At this stage, no statement can be made about the trends in the remote input, but a model study of the WFD reductions showed that the long distance inputs from other OSPAR Contracting States would decrease in proportion to the level of nitrogen reduction planned under the WFD (Lenhart and Great 2018 unpublished).

Approximately 20 % of the nitrogen inputs into German North Sea waters derive from atmospheric deposition on the marine waters (Brockmann et al. 2017). In 2015, 47.590 tonnes of nitrogen were deposited on the German EEZ (22.400 tonnes of reduced nitrogen and 25.190 tonnes of oxidised nitrogen (OSPAR 2018)). The time series of normalised nitrogen deposition showed a decrease of 28 % (around 16.850 tonnes) between 1995 and 2015, mainly due to the decrease in the oxidised nitrogen deposition. Since 2012, there has been no further decrease in atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Only about 20 % of the deposition of oxidised nitrogen compounds to the North Sea waters in the German EEZ resulted from German emissions, about 20 % came from the United Kingdom, approximately 6 % from the Netherlands, approximately 10 % from France, approximately 6 % from Poland and about 16 % from the North Sea shipping (OSPAR 2018). In terms of deposition of reduced nitrogen compounds, Germany had a much higher share of around 53 %, 16 % came from the Netherlands, 9 % from France and 7 % from the UK (OSPAR 2018). Shipping in the North Sea and the North East Atlantic accounted for 11 % of atmospheric nitrogen inputs in 2014 (OSPAR 2018). The target is to achieve the reduction targets under the Gothenburg Protocol and NEC Directive 2016/2284.

In 2015, the emissions of oxidised nitrogen compounds were 361.000 tonnes for Germany and 625.300 tonnes for reduced nitrogen compounds (data in tonnes nitrogen/year) (HELCOM fact sheet: Nitrogen emissions to air). In 2015, emissions of oxidised nitrogen compounds were 40 % for Germany, 24 % for energy, 10 % for households and 11 % for small consumers and for agriculture (UBA data on the environment). Nitrogen compounds from nitrogen compounds (ammonia) accounted for 95 % of 2015 emissions from agriculture. The emissions of oxidised nitrogen compounds decreased by 45 % between 1995 and 2015 and in recent years showed a slightly declining trend, while emissions of reduced N compounds increased by 12 % and showed a continuing upward trend (HELCOM fact sheet: Nitrogen emissions to air). The target is to achieve the reduction targets under the Gothenburg Protocol and NEC Directive 2016/2284.