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Aquatic systems

Water Resource managemtn and Landmark Legislation: The Clean Water Act The Water Framework Directive. Aquatic systems. Supply goods and services Long term degradation Multiple pressures and impacts Threaten their stability and quality

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Aquatic systems

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  1. Water Resource managemtn and Landmark Legislation:The Clean Water ActThe Water Framework Directive

  2. Aquatic systems • Supply goods and services • Long term degradation • Multiple pressures and impacts • Threaten their stability and quality • A need to better characterise and protect aquatic habitats • Implement effective legislation and management plans • Integrated “holistic” management • The future • Water resources and climate change

  3. MAN AND WATER SHARE A LONG AND CLOSE ASSOCIATION

  4. Commerce ,Industry, Energy production Agriculture - irrigation Spiritual and religious importance Rio Ganges, Índia Transport

  5. Os ecossistemas aquáticos atraiam-nós

  6. Ecosystems goods and services Direct Services supply., transport, recreation, fisheries Indirect services Flood prevention, recycling of nutrients, genetic resources, maintenance of wetlands “Services - Existence” allow the permanence of habitats, their ecosystems and species

  7. Water is the the most threatened natural resource on the planet The sustainable integrated management of water will be one of the most important areas of 21st century world politics

  8. Waterresource management is EXTREMELY complex • Multiple uses • Multiple demands • Multiple conflicts • Multiple interests • Multiple impacts over multiple spatial scales • Costs!

  9. Industrial and domestic discharge Urbanisation Draining of wetlands Diffuse pollution, changes in land use, soil loss

  10. Changes in land use • Deforestation • Habitat destruction • Erosion of sediments • Changes in nutrient flux • Destruction of riparian habitats • Channelisation of streams and rivers

  11. Urbanisation Longitudinal, lateral and vertical connectivity Disturbance of water cycle Decrease in biodiversity Ecosystem quality Sustainable goods and services Artificialisation of surface water bodies

  12. There are multiple influences that interact to shape the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems Analysestend to bemadefromcatchmentleveldownwards

  13. Availability of food Predators Heredity Aquatic organism or community Pressures organism Physical condition or fitness Competition Habitat There are multiple influences that interact to shape the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems and communities

  14. Need for effective, integrated, sustainable aquatic resource management and planning

  15. An integrated approach…. Socio-Economics, STAKEHOLDERS, planning and management Aquatic ecosystems MAINTAIN ECOSYSTEM GOODS AND SERVICES Sustainable management and planning PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Ecosystem function and services, habitats, chemical & PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

  16. The Clean Water Act (CWA - USA) • 1948 - Federal Water Pollution Control Act. • 1972 – reorganized and expanded in 1972 - CWA. • Subsequent amendments • 245 pages!!! • Basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the US waters and regulating quality standards for surface waters • rivers, lakes, wetlands, and coastal waters. • “The objective…………to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.”

  17. Policy of the CWA • Discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985; • Wherever attainable, an interim goal of water quality which provides for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for recreation in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983; • Discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts be prohibited; • Federal financial assistance be provided to construct publicly owned waste treatment works; • Area wide treatment management planning processes be developed and implemented to assure adequate control of sources of pollutants in each State; • A major research and demonstration effort be made to develop technology necessary to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters, waters of the contiguous zone and the oceans; and • Programs for the control of nonpoint sources of pollution be developed and implemented in an expeditious manner so as to enable the goals of this Act to be met through the control of both point and nonpoint sources of pollution.

  18. What it’s all about……………. briefly The Water Framework Directive (WFD)

  19. Why is the WFD so important? • Legislates to • Promote sustainable water consumption. • Obligate public involvement in the elaboration of River Basin Management Plans • Protect the aquatic environment and associated wetlands: • Establish monitoring programmes • Ecological monitoring • Prevent further deterioration • Protect and enhance status • Maintain “good” ecological status • mitigate the effects of floods and drought. Anexcellentframework for developing biomonitoring programmes (butthe WFD isnotperfect)

  20. “The WFD is intended to cover all water bodies in Europe, and is therefore a very wide-ranging legislative tool. Although it will contribute to freshwater conservation, it is intended primarily for the management of the water environment. It is therefore appropriate that, in contrast to the Habitats Directive, the needs of people and wildlife are balanced. …TheEuropean Environment Agency (2006) encourages the view that economic development and wildlife conservation are compatible. Moreover, wise use of aquatic resources must recognize the important ecosystem goods and services they provide.” HATTON-ELLIS (2008). The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Water Framework Directive. Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 18: 111–116

  21. WFD – primary objective • An environmental approach • Basin level management of aquatic resources • River Basin Management Plans • record the current status of water bodies within the river basin district; • Programmes of measures to meet the objectives; • Reporting mechanism to the Commission and the public • Environmental objectives • Achieve "good status" for all waters by 2015 • Ecological monitoring, evaluation and classification of surface water bodies • Public participation • An economic perspective • The gradual payment of the real cost of services provided by water • Implement the “Polluter pays” principal

  22. WFD • Protect and enhance the quality of • surface freshwater • lakes, streams, rivers, highly modified or artificial water bodies • Ecological status/potential • Chemical status • Groundwaters • Chemical status • Groundwater dependant ecosystems • Estuaries • Coastal waters • one mile from low-water

  23. The Water Framework Directive • Sustainable management of aquatic resources • A “holistic” approach • A spatial framework instead of an administrative framework. • River Basin District • natural geographical and hydrological unit • an analysis of its characteristics, • a review of the impact of human activity on the status of surface waters and on groundwater • an economic analysis of water use • biological elements & support elements • Assess ecosystem status of surface water bodies • programme of measures

  24. The Water Framework Directive - WFD Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy 23 October 2000 “Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such.” “Waters in the Community are under increasing pressure from the continuous growth in demand for sufficient quantities of good quality water for all purposes. On 10 November 1995, the European Environment Agency in its report “Environment in the European Union – 1995” presented an updated state of the environment report, confirming the need for action to protect Community waters in qualitative as well as in quantitative terms.”

  25. Transposed into national law (Portugal) • Lei n.º 58/2005, de 29 de Dezembro • “A lei de água”

  26. River Basin Management Planning Process

  27. “in preparing its policy on the environment, the Community is to take account of available scientific and technical data, environmental conditions in the various regions of the Community, and the economic and social development of the Community as a whole and the balanced development of its regions as well as the potential benefits and costs of action or lack of action.” “WFD reflects strongly the history behind current European freshwater ecological monitoring methods. Dating back to the late nineteenth century, major European countries such as Germany, France, Belgium and Great Britain underwent considerable periods of industrialisation and development, concomitant with substantial environmental degradation, …. Further, major trans-national European rivers such as the Rhine carry wastes of these activities across political boundaries, forcing neighbouring countries to collaborate or at least work in parallel in implementing monitoring programmes and remedial measures..” Hughes SJ and Malmqvist B. (2005) Atlantic Island freshwater ecosystems: challenges and considerations following the EU Water Framework Directive. Hydrobiologia544: 289-297. DOI 10.1007/s10750-005-1695-y

  28. Article 1 Establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater which: • prevents further deterioration and protects and enhances the status of aquatic ecosystems and, with regard to their water needs, terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands directly depending on the aquatic ecosystems; • promotes sustainable water use based on a long-term protection of available water resources; • aims at enhanced protection and improvement of the aquatic environment, inter alia, through specific measures for the progressive reduction of discharges, emissions and losses of priority substances and the cessation or phasing-out of discharges, emissions and losses of the priority hazardous substances; • ensures the progressive reduction of pollution of groundwater and prevents its further pollution, and  • contributes to mitigating the effects of floods and droughts.

  29. WFD Ecoregions for rivers and lakes Annex II Characterisation

  30. Annex II Characterisation

  31. Annex II Characterisation

  32. Defining typology for Portugal N S Temperature Precipitation Flow Altitude Morphocliamtic regions Geology – mineralizationclasses • System B (WFD, Annex II), • morphoclimatic regions* and mineralization classes • Combination of obligatory and optional factors • http://dqa.inag.pt/dqa2002/port/docs_apoio/doc_nac/Manuais/Caracterizacao_rios.pdf

  33. Portugal continental - 12 tipologias

  34. River Basin Districts

  35. WFD - typologies

  36. WFD – determining surface water status • Chemical status • determined by detecting concentrations of a range of pollutants identified as impacting the whole of Europe. • If levels of these pollutants are below the threshold values set, a “good chemical status” has been achieved. • Groundwater is subject to the additional criteria that its conductivity is not impeded, that it is not causing a deterioration of the ecological and chemical quality of surface waters, and that terrestrial ecosystems relying on groundwater are not impaired. • Ecological status • determined by identifying the types of fauna and flora that act as biological quality elements. • Support elements • “good ecological status" - composition of the four quality components of fish, invertebrates, plankton and aquatic plants is only slightly different from reference conditions. • Ecological potential • Artificial or significantly modified bodies of water, • quality goal is “good ecological potential“. • determined by identifying all human influences that could be removed without a significantly negative restriction on the body of water’s usage.

  37. Characterising and classifying surface water status • Determine typology • Rivers • Lakes • Transitionalwaters • Coastalwaters • Artificial & heavilymodifiedsurfacewaterbodies • Qualityelements for determiningEcological Status orEcologicalPotential • BiologicalQualityElements (BQE) • Hydromorphological supportelements • Physicochemicalsupportelements • 5 quality classes • Ecological status • High, Good, Moderate, Poor & Bad • Ecologicalpotential • Maximum, Good, Moderate, Poor & Bad • Chemical status • 2 quality classes • GoodorFailing to achieveGood

  38. Macrophytes and Phytobenthos Phytoplankton Macroinvertebrates Fish Determining Ecological Status/Potential • Sampling Biological Elements • Protocols for collecting • Determine metrics based on measures or • Composition • Abundance • Diversity • Measure or assess support elements • Hidromorphological • Physicochemical

  39. Quality elements to be used for the assessment of ecological status/potential based on the list in Annex V, 1.1, of the WFD

  40. Metrics used in Portugal - rivers Large Rivers? Metrics for macrophytes and fish under development

  41. Hydromorphological support elements - rivers

  42. Metrics used in Portugal - reservoirs “Zooplankton is crucial! Its omission in WFD lake monitoring is unwise” “As a matter of surprise to lake ecologists all over Europe, zooplankton is not considered a biological quality element in the European Water Framework Directive.” “Combined approaches to set reference conditions are more useful than single ones” “This also imposes unprecedented implications on the continuity of long-term monitoring subject, for instance, to climate change research.” Adapted from Zooplankton as indicators in lakes: a scientific-based plea for including zooplankton in the ecological quality assessment of lakes according to the European Water Framework Directive (WFD); by Erik Jeppesen et al. 2011, Hydrobiologia, DOI 10.1007/s10750-011-0831-0)

  43. Quality elements and parameters

  44. Determining ecological status • Compare results of metrics with Reference Conditions (RC) • Determine the Ecological Quality Ratio (EQR) • EQRs have typically been derived from detailed statistical analysis of large ecological datasets. • Used to set Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) that establish class boundaries

  45. The importance of Reference Conditions

  46. Determining ecological status • Compare results of metrics with Reference Conditions (RC) • Determine the Ecological Quality Ratio (EQR) • Classify – Ecological Status • High, Good, Moderate, Poor & Bad

  47. Classification of Surface Water Status One out all out

  48. Classification of status using biological elements

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