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European waters - assessment of status and pressures

Publication Created 31 Oct 2012 Published 31 Oct 2012
1 min read
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This report's results present good and robust European overviews of the data reported by the first RBMPs, and of the ecological status and pressures affecting Europe's waters. Europe's waters are affected by several pressures, including water pollution, water scarcity and floods. Major modifications to water bodies also affect morphology and water flow. To maintain and improve the essential functions of our water ecosystems, we need to manage them well.
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Publication Created 31 Oct 2012 Published 31 Oct 2012
1 min read
EEA Report No 8/2012
This report's results present good and robust European overviews of the data reported by the first RBMPs, and of the ecological status and pressures affecting Europe's waters. Europe's waters are affected by several pressures, including water pollution, water scarcity and floods. Major modifications to water bodies also affect morphology and water flow. To maintain and improve the essential functions of our water ecosystems, we need to manage them well.

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: 978-92-9213-339-9
: TH-AL-12-008-EN-C

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Figures used

Archived
Proportion of classified water bodies in different RBDs affected by pollution pressures, for rivers and lakes (left panel) and for coastal and transitional waters (right panel) The percentage is based on total number of classified water bodies. See the indicator specification for more details.
Archived
Chlorophyll-a concentrations in European seas in 2010 The map shows Chlorophyll-a concentrations in European coastal and open seas in 2010. The class boundaries “high”, “moderate” and “low” concentration are determined by the 80/20 percentiles of the data set in each sea (sub)region. The low category refers to values within the lowest 20th percentile and the high category refers to values within the upper 20th percentile of concentrations.
Trend in winter orthophosphate concentrations in coastal and open waters of the Baltic, North East Atlantic (Greater North Sea, Celtic Seas, Bay of Biscay), and Mediterranean Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea), 1985 - 2010 The figure shows trend in winter orthophosphate concentrations in coastal and open waters of the Baltic, North East Atlantic (Greater North Sea, Celtic Seas, Bay of Biscay), and Mediterranean Sea (Western Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea) (% of stations showing a statistically significant change within the period 1985-2010). Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of stations included in the analysis for each country. "Open sea" is the total of all off-shore stations (>20km) within a (sub)region.
Archived
Winter oxidized nitrogen (NO2 + NO3) concentrations in European seas in 2010 The map shows the winter oxidized nitrogen concentrations in the European coastal and open waters in 2010. The low category refers to values within the lowest 20th percentile and the high category refers to values within the upper 20th percentile of concentrations in a regional sea
Occurrence of hydromorphology measures in RBMPs (% of RBMPs) -
Trend in median total ammonium, total phosphorus and nitrate concentration of river water bodies, grouped by ecological status/potential class Concentrations are expressed as a median of annual mean concentrations. Up to three-year gaps of missing values have been interpolated or extrapolated. Only complete series with no missing values after this interpolation/extrapolation are included. The number of time series/river stations is shown in parentheses. The trend for 1992 to 2010 for each of the ecological quality classes has been linearly extended to 2027 — or when the concentration level becomes negative.
Conservation status of river and lake habitat types and species, and conservation status of coastal and transitional waters habitat types of European interest -
Chemical status of transitional and coastal waters per RBD — percentage of water bodies not achieving good chemical status -
Percentage of transitional (a) and coastal (b) water bodies in poor and good chemical status, by count of water bodies The graphs illustrate the chemical status of transitional and coastal water bodies as percentage of water bodies in poor and good chemical status, by count of water bodies.
Chemical status of rivers and lakes per RBD — percentage of water bodies not achieving good chemical status -
Chemical status of rivers and lakes The graphs illustrate the chemical status of river and lake water bodies as percentage of water bodies in poor and good chemical status, by count of water bodies.
Percentage of groundwater body area not achieving good chemical status due to nitrate (a) and total nitrogen input from organic and inorganic fertilisers (b) -
Archived
Proportion of classified groundwater bodies in different River Basin Districts in poor chemical status The figure shows percentage of the total area of classified water bodies. See the indicator specification for more details
Chemical status of groundwater bodies The graphs illustrate the chemical status of groundwater, Percentage of groundwater bodies in poor and good status, by area.
Draft
Distribution of chemical status of groundwater, rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters. Number of Member States contributing to the dataset: Groundwater (26); Rivers (25); Lakes (22); Transitional (15) and Coastal (20). Percentages shown for rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal are by water body count. Groundwater percentages, however, are expressed by area. The total number of water bodies is shown in parenthesis. Data from Sweden are excluded from surface water data illustrated in the figure. This is because Sweden contributed a disproportionately large amount of data and, classified all its surface waters as poor status since levels of mercury found within biota in both fresh and coastal waters exceed quality standards.
Ecological status/potential of and proportion of water bodies affected by pollution and hydromorphological pressures for transitional (left panel (a, b, c)) and coastal (right panel (d, e, f)) water bodies, by sea region -
Ecological status or potential of lake water bodies in different Member States (a), and proportion of lake water bodies affected by diffuse pollution and hydromorphology pressures (b) The graphs illustrate the ecological status of lake water bodies (a) and percentage of lake water bodies affected by diffuse pollution and hydromorphology pressures
Ecological status or potential of classified river water bodies in different Member States (a), and proportion of river water bodies affected by diffuse pollution and hydromorphology pressures (b) The graphs illustrate the ecological status of river water bodies (a) and percentage of river water bodies affected by diffuse pollution and hydromorphology pressures
Percentage of natural, heavily modified, artificial and unknown status for river, lake, transitional and coastal water bodies -
Percentage of natural, heavily modified, artificial and unknown status for river, lake, transitional and coastal water bodies The graphs illustrate the designation of heavily and artificial water bodies
Draft
Proportion of classified water bodies in different RBDs affected by hydromorphological pressures, for rivers and lakes (left panel) and for coastal and transitional waters (right panel) The percentage is based on total number of classified water bodies. See the indicator specification for more details.
Draft
Proportion of total number of classified water bodies with identified significant pressures (left column) and impacts (right column), for rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and transitional waters The percentage is calculated against the total number of classified surface water bodies in Member States reporting the specific pressure or impact type (or any pressure or impact for the blue bars). The number of Member States included is indicated in brackets. See the indicator specification for more details.
Ecological status/potential and pollution/hydromorphological pressures of classified river water bodies, according to population density and percentage of arable land in the river basin -
Archived
Proportion of classified surface water bodies in different RBDs holding less than good ecological status or potential, for rivers and lakes (left panel) and for coastal and transitional waters (right panel) The figure shows percentage of the total number of classified water bodies. See the indicator specification for more details.
Archived
Distribution of ecological status or potential of classified rivers, lakes, coastal and transitional waters The figure shows percentage of the total number of classified water bodies (with total number given in brackets). See the indicator specification for more details
Map of RBDs and sea regions used in the report Extent of river basin districts
Changes in water quality variables during the last two decades -
Comparison of water quality in rivers in the Czech Republic, 1991–1992 and 2010–2011 -
Total nitrogen application to agricultural soil and river nitrate concentration -
Historical development of the biotic community and average oxygen levels of the River Rhine near Emmerich and the Elbe near Magdeburg Historical development of the biotic community and average oxygen levels of the River Rhine near Emmesrich and the Elbe near Magdeburg
Archived
Percentage of classified water bodies in different river basin districts (RBDs) affected by pollution pressures, for rivers and lakes (top panel) and for coastal and transitional waters (bottom panel) The percentage is based on total number of classified water bodies. See the indicator specification for more details.

News and articles

Life under water faces serious threats Life in Europe’s freshwater bodies and regional seas is not doing well. The poor state of ecosystems has a direct impact on many animals and plants living in water, and it affects other species and humans, depending on clean water. The state of Europe’s seas is dire, mainly due to overfishing and climate change, while freshwater bodies suffer from excess nutrients and altered habitats. Chemical pollution negatively impacts both freshwater and marine environments.
More than half of EU surface waters below ‘good’ ecological status Water pollution and physical modifications are still affecting the ecology of many of Europe’s lakes, rivers, transitional water bodies and coastal waters. These problems are likely to prevent the water bodies reaching ‘good’ status by 2015, a target set by the EU’s Water Framework Directive (WFD).

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