Surface waters have traditionally been the disposal route for human, agricultural and industrial waste, which has damaged their water quality. Surface waters make up the majority of the volume of EU waters and are important habitats, providing key support to society and the economy throughout Europe, while clean, unpolluted waters are essential for our ecosystems. This briefing addresses only surface waters.
One of the goals of the 7th EAP (EU, 2013) is that the impact of pressures on transitional, coastal and fresh waters (including surface and groundwater) should be significantly reduced to achieve, maintain or enhance good status, as defined in the Water Framework Directive. Urban Waste Water Treatment, Nitrates Directive) is needed in order to restore the ecological status of surface waters.
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Full implementation of the management measures under the Water Framework Directive, in combination with full implementation of other relevant directives (e.g. It is unlikely that the objective of achieving good status of waters will be met by 2020 given the large proportion of surface waters still failing to meet good ecological status. Overall, the second RBMPs show limited change in ecological status compared with the first RBMPs from 2009 for most water bodies the ecological status remained similar in both sets of RBMPs. Hydromorphological pressures - mainly from hydropower, navigation, agriculture, flood protection and urban development resulting in altered habitats - also affect many surface water bodies.īased on the second River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) from 2015, around 40 % of surface waters in the EU (rivers, lakes, and transitional and coastal waters) have achieved good ecological status.
Pollution from agriculture and urban and industrial wastewater nevertheless remain significant. The quality of Europe’s surface waters has improved over recent decades thanks to higher standards of waste water treatment, for example, and reductions in agricultural inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus. Achieving good ecological status in surface waters is a critical aspect of this. The Seventh Environment Action Programme (7th EAP) includes the goal of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) that good status should be achieved, enhanced or maintained in transitional, coastal and fresh waters.
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