Regresar

Ecologycal status in Catalonia rivers. Evaluation of risk to not achieve the Water Framework Directive objectives

Abstract:

The Water Framework Directive needs to establish a methodology to analyzre the ecological status acording to the water bodies characteristics. This paper describes the steps followed in Catalonia to determine the ecological status in rivers, and to evaluate the risk to not achieve the Water Framework Directive objectives. This procedure includes the river typification, the establishment of reference water bodies, and reference conditions, the definition of biological, hydromorphological and physicochemical quality indices, and finally, the evaluation of the ecological status combining several indices and metrics.