Nutrient criteria for surface waters under the European Water Framework Directive: Current state-of-the-art, challenges and future outlook.

ABSTRACT: The aim of European water policy is to achieve good ecological status in all rivers, lakes, coastal and transitional waters by 2027. Currently, more than half of water bodies are in a degraded condition and nutrient enrichment is one of the main culprits. Therefore, there is a pressing need to establish reliable and comparable nutrient criteria that are consistent with good ecological status. This paper highlights the wide range of nutrient criteria currently in use by Member States of the European Union to support good ecological status and goes on to suggest that inappropriate criteria may be hindering the achievement of good status. Along with a comprehensive overview of nutrient criteria, we provide a critical analysis of the threshold concentrations and approaches by which these are s

SUBMITTER: Poikane S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6878824 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature