EEAs assessments of the status of Europe s waters EEA visit South Baltic Water District, Sweden 16. March 2018 Peter Kristensen European Environment Agency (EEA)
Status of Europe s waters Overall freshwater quality (overall status, ecological status, conservation status of freshwater habitats and species); Water pollution and quality (e.g. nutrients in groundwater, rivers and lakes; pollution sources and emissions); Water and health (Bathing water quality, drinking water quality, hazardous substances related to health) Water resources focus on water scarcity and drought (Water Exploitation Index, water abstraction by sectors, water resource accounts, water efficiency) Floods and water related disasters Climate change impacts on water and water adaptation measures Hydromorphological /structural activities (e.g. hydropower, navigation, number of barriers in rivers, straightened rivers).
EU water policies
European Bathing Water Quality in 2016 Annual reporting of Bathing Water quality (EN, DE and FR) 29 National reports Map viewers Link: https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water /status-and-monitoring/state-of-bathingwater/state/state-of-bathing-water-3
WISE Bathing Water interactive map viewer ttp://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/interactive/bathing/state-of-bathing-waters
Urban waste water treatment
Trends in wastewater treatment (1995-2015) Proportion of population connected to better wastewater treatment Northern Europe: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Central Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and United Kingdom. Southern Europe: Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia. South-eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. Source Eurostat and EEA indicator https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/urban-waste-water-treatment/urban-waste-water-treatment-assessment-4 Collected without treatment Mechanical treatment Biological treatment Nutrient removal Initially, for the treatment of waste water, sewage collection systems must be installed (orange bars). Waste water can then be subject to primary treatment (yellow bars), such as settling, followed by secondary treatment (green bars) to reduce the amount of dissolved and suspended organic material. Secondary treatments include those using biological methods. More stringent tertiary treatment (dark green bars) can then be applied to remove mainly nutrients.
EEA core set indicator:nutrients in freshwater Source: EEA Nutrients in freshwater (CSI 020/WAT 003) http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/nutrients-in-freshwater/nutrients-in-freshwater-assessmentpublished-6
EEA State of Water assessment 2018 Why, what, for who and when 2018 is the year in which the European Commission published its report on Implementation of WFD and the review of the 2 nd River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) and start the process of evaluating the Water Framework Directive. To accompany and inform this process, the EEA has long planned a report of State of European waters The report aims to present results on: What is the status of European waters? Which pressures is causing less than good status; What progress has been achieved in the 1 st River Basin Management cycle (2010-2015)? The target audience is EU institutions (EP, COM, JRC); countries (national, River Basin District administrations working with WFD and other water policy implementation); International River Basin and Regional Sea Conventions; water experts and scientists; and general public. WFD Article 18:The EU Commission shall publish a report on the implementation of the directive two years after the Member States have delivered the RBMPs. The report shall include a review of the status of surface water and groundwater in the Community undertaken in coordination with the European Environment Agency (EEA)
EEA s 2018 State of Water Assessment (report/portal) https://forum.eionet.europa.eu/nrc-eionet-freshwater/library/2018-state-water-consultation-1 The first EEA report was published in 2012, the second is planned for June 2018. European waters status and pressures Overview of status (quantitative, chemical and ecological), pressures and impacts Change in status and pressures from 1 st to 2 nd RBMPs Relationship between pressure and status (what is causing less than good status) pressures-driving force relationship. Effect of measures (implemented during the 1st RBMP period from 2010-2015). 2018 State of water assessment WISE State of Water visualisation tool
Consultation draft report 15/1-28/2 2018 https://forum.eionet.europa.eu/nrc-eionetfreshwater/library/2018-state-water-consultation-1/ Consultation of draft report 15/1-28/2 +600 comments from 30 countries/stakeholders Many good suggestions and constrive comments Checks of values Some critical comments related to interpretation of the WFD, e.g. Overall status Ecological status without monitoring of biological quality elements Use of supporting quality elements Chemical status extrapolation/observations Threshold values used for groundwater pollutants, RBSPs, nutrient standards
EEA State of Water assessment 2018
Data sources and methodology used Reporting 2017 25 EU Member States 160 RBDs (data not yet available from Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway) 89 000 river water bodies 1.2 million km average length 13 km 18 165 lake water bodies 2/3 from Sweden and Finland - avg area 4.9 km 2 782 transitional water bodies (avg area 19 km 2 ) 2835 coastal water bodies (avg area 102 km 2 ) 46 territorial waters 13 400 Groundwater bodies (4.3 million km 2 ) Preliminary results 25 Member States
9500 WBs 6500 WBs
General storyline What is the status? Details on status. Comparison between results from 1 st and 2 nd RBMP periods What is causing not achieving good status (e.g. significant pressures, pollutants causing failure etc.) What is the status of water bodies?? Good Less than good Which significant pressures are causing failure? Which pollutants or quality elements are failing? Change in status or pressures 1 st and 2 nd RBMP period
All status (ecological, chemical and quantitative) and details (Quality Elements, Priority substances etc.)
Source: Preliminary data 25 Member States Surface water bodies: Ecological status or potential and chemical status, by category Ecological status/potential and chemical status of rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters. - 2 nd RBMPs High Good Unknown Moderate Poor Bad Good Unknown Poor Surface water bodies River Lake Transitional Coastal
Ecological status and potential - 2nd RBMPs (2010-2015) Low percentage surface water bodies are meeting the objective of WFD of having good or high ecological status Number of water bodies in parenthesis - Source Preliminary results from WFD second River Basin Management Plans (2010-2015). Surface water bodies: Ecological status or potential and chemical status, by category & Surface water bodies: QE status, by quality element and category
Proportion of surface water bodies failing to achieve good status due to main significant pressures 2 nd RBMPs (2010-2015) Point sources: Urban wastewater, stormwater overflows, industry discharges, minewater and contaminated sites Diffuse sources: Agricultural, forestry, urban run-off, households not connected to sewers, aquaculture Hydromorphology: Dams, barriers and locks; physical alteration of channel/bed/riparian area/shore; hydrological alteration (flow). Source Preliminary results from WFD second River Basin Management Plans (2010-2015). Surface water bodies: Significant pressures
Status river biological quality elements 25 Member states With unknowns Without unknowns Benthic invertebrates Fish Macrophytes Benthic invertebrates Phytobenthos Phytobenthos Fish Macrophytes Source: WISE SoW Surface water bodies: QE status, by category 25 Member States Symbols: http://www.freshwaterplatform.eu/index.php/
Comparison of status in 1 st and 2 nd RBMP period The diagram illustrate A marked reduction in unknowns from 1st to 2nd RBMPs There are an increase in the proportion of water bodies in Good and Less than Good status. Preliminary results 25 Member States
General storyline for the status chapters What is the status? Details on status. Comparison between results from 1 st and 2 nd RBMP period What is causing not achieving good status (e.g. significant pressures, pollutants causing failure etc.) What is the status of water bodies?? Good Less than good Which significant pressures are causing failure? Which pollutants or quality elements are failing? Change in status or pressures 1 st and 2 nd RBMP period
Priority substances where failure to achieve good chemical status occurs in over 100 water bodies (out of 111062 surface water bodies) 25 MS, July 2017 Priority substance Number waterbodies not achieving good chemical status Number Member States having waterbodies not achieving good chemical status for substance Mercury * 45973 24 Brominated diphenylethers * 23331 8 3091 15 Benzo(g,h,i)perylene + Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene * Benzo(a)pyrene * 1630 12 Fluoranthene 1390 14 Cadmium 1014 20 Tributyltin * 663 15 Nickel 654 20 Lead 462 19 Benzo(b)fluor-anthene+ 460 10 Benzo(k)fluor-anthene * Isoproturon 199 8 4-nonylphenol 188 10 Anthracene 123 11 Hexachlorocyclohexane 120 11 DEHP 102 11 * shows where substance is a upbt;
Surface water bodies, chemical status with and without upbt upbts (ubiquitous, Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic) Preliminary results 25 Member States Surface water bodies: Chemical status with and without upbt, by category
Pressures relevant for ecological status - proportion of all surface WBs affected by pressure Atmospheric deposition Preliminary results 25 Member States
Proportion of surface water bodies failing to achieve good status due to significant pressures from diffuse sources 2nd RBMPs (2010-2015)
Preliminary key messages I Compared to the first RBMPs, all four statuses (ecological, chemical and quantitative status) have a higher proportion of water bodies in good status in the second RBMP period. However, there are also a higher proportion of water bodies in less than good status. Both the changes in proportion good and less than good status are due to improved knowledge of the water environment (i.e. fewer water bodies have unknown status). It is positive that the ecological status for single quality elements is markedly better than the overall ecological status, and there are improvements in some of the quality elements from the first to the second RBMP period. It is also positive that without ubiquitous substances, in particular mercury, only 3 % of surface water bodies failed to achieve good chemical status and only few priority substances are causing poor chemical status. Improvements in status for a priority substance shows that Member States are making progress in tackling sources of contamination.
Preliminary key messages II There was a slight improvement in groundwater chemical status and quantitative status from first to second RBMP period. The results from the second RBMPs show that European waters remain under multiple pressures from water pollution, over-abstraction and structural change from human activities. These pressures affect the good functioning of water-related ecosystems, contribute to biodiversity loss, and threaten the long-term delivery of previous ecosystem services and benefits to society and the economy. With the second RBMPs the quantity and quality of available evidence has grown significantly, providing a better understanding of the status, the pressures causing failure to achieve good status, and the needed measures.
WISE visualisation WFD2016 [ DG ENV ] (Bilbomatica & Guadaltel) periodic export or export-on-demand XLS WISE_SOW [ EEA ] WFD2010 [ DG ENV ] (Bilbomatica & Guadaltel) #1 WISE-5 [ EEA ] (ETC - ICM) interface mockup WISE_SOE [ EEA ] (ETC - ICM) EEA consultant SoW assessment team
Visualisation tool in development Tabular Link Visualisation link
Tabular Link
Filters Filters Filters Management plans 2nd; or 1st Water bodies (WISEEvolutionType) (All); Unchanged or Other ('Unchanged' water bodies are water bodies that have not been redelineated between the 1st and 2nd RBMP.) Measure Number, Size (km/km 2 ) Pressure type group Aggregated pressure group Pressure type Detailed pressures Category Rivers, lakes, transitional, coastal and territorial waters Type Natural, Heavily modified or artificial water bodies Ecological status Chemical status Spatial filters Country River basin districts Sub-unit
Tabular results
Surface water bodies: Chemical status with and without upbt Surface water bodies: Chemical status with and without upbt Surface water bodies: Chemical status with and without upbt, by category Surface water bodies: Chemical status with and without upbt, by country Surface water bodies: Chemical status with and without upbt, by country and category
Graphs - comparisons Surface water bodies: Ecological status or potential in the 2nd and 1st RBMP Surface water bodies: Ecological status or potential, by category Surface water bodies: Ecological status or potential, by country Surface water bodies: Ecological status or potential, by category and country
Interactive maps Surface water bodies Surface water bodies: Number and Size Surface water bodies: Number or Size, by Category Surface water bodies: Number or Size, by Category and Type
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