Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

WFD Indicators and Definition of the Ecological Status of Rivers

  • Published:
Water Resources Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to solve the problems derived from the use of water, a limited natural resource, by extending the scope of protection to all water uses. The WDF defines the ecological status of water bodies by characterizing each water body type and establishing conditions for the quality elements. This paper identifies valid indicators for defining the ecological status of Estanco River Basin, located in the province of Lugo, NW of Spain, by using the methodology proposed in the WFD. In addition, this study highlights the obstacles for a correct application of the WFD in the study river basin. After characterization of the study river basin and establishment of specific reference conditions, this study presents conclusions about the usefulness of the WFD in the development of specific programmes for improving the ecological status of rivers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alba-Tercedor J, Jáimez-Cuéllar P, Álvarez M et al (2002) Caracterización del estado ecológico de ríos mediterráneos ibéricos mediante el índice IBMWP (=BMWP). Limnetica 21(3–4):175–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen RG, Pereira LS Raes D et al (1998) Crop evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. FAO Irrig Drain Pap 56. FAO, Rome

  • Álvarez CJ, Cuesta TS, Cancela JJ et al (2006) Gestión de aguas residuales en el ámbito rural en Galicia, España (Unión Europea). Inf Tec 17(3):15–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Birk S, Hering D (2006) Direct comparison of assessment methods using benthic macroinvertebrates: a contribution to the EU Water Framework Directive intercalibration exercise. Hydrobiologia 566:401–415. doi:10.1007/s10750-006-0081-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bizjak A, Mikoš M (2004) Synthesis procedure of assessing the hydromorphological status of river corridors: the Dragonja river case study. In: Abstracts of the 5th international symposium on ecohydraulics. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, 12–17 September 2004

    Google Scholar 

  • Cancela JJ (2004) Gestión integrada del agua en la cuenca alta del río Miño. PhD Dissertation, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Lugo

  • Cancela JJ, Dafonte J, Neira XX et al (2004) Estimación de recursos hídricos en la cuenca alta del río Miño. In: Abstracts of Congresso internacional sobre o Rio Minho 2004. Universidade do Minho, Melgaço, 26–28 May 2004

    Google Scholar 

  • Carballo R, Cancela JJ, Cuesta TS et al (2007) Gestión del agua en una pequeña cuenca agrícola del norte de España bajo la Directiva Marco del Agua. Paper presented at the I Congreso Ibérico y IV Congreso Nacional de Agroingeniería, Sociedad Española de Agroingeniería, Albacete, 4–6 September 2007

  • CEDEX (2005) Caracterización de los tipos de ríos y lagos. Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • CEN (2003) Guidance Standard for Assessing the Hydromorphological Features of Rivers, European Committee for Standardization, CEN TC 230/WG 2/TG 5: N32:1–21

  • Cohen P, Andriamahefa H, Wasson JG (1998) Towards a regionalization of aquatic habitat: distribution of mesohabitats at the scale of a large basin. Regul Rivers Res Manage 14(5):391–404. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1646(199809/10)14:5<391::AID-RRR513>3.0.CO;2-W

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuesta TS, Alvarez CJ, Cancela JJ et al (2006) Wastewater management evaluation by using the opinion survey in Galicia, Spain. Water Resour Manag 20(5):817–828. doi:10.1007/s11269-005-9009-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawson FH, Hornby DD, Hilton J (2002) A method for the automated extraction of environmental variables to help the classification of rivers in Britain. Aquat Conserv 12:391–340. doi:10.1002/aqc.534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estrella T (1993) Modelos matemáticos para la evaluación de recursos hídricos. Centro de Estudios Hidrográficos, Ministerio de Obras Públicas Transportes y Medio Ambiente, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2000) Water Framework Directive, Directive 2000/60/EEC of 22 December 2000 establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy. Off J Eur Communities 327:1–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleick PH (2000) The changing water paradigm. A look al twenty-first century water resources development. Water Int 25:127–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt G (1991) River quality investigations. Some diversity and biotic indexes. J Biol Educ 25(1):44–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • INE (2003) Censo Agrario 1999: Resumen Nacional por Comunidades Autónomas y Provincias. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Ministerio de Economía y Hacienda, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • INM (2006) Datos climatológicos de las estaciones meteorológicas de Monte Ladairo (Guntín) correspondientes al año 2005. Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Kallis G, Butler D (2001) The E.U. water framework directive: measures and implications. Water Policy 3(2):125–142. doi:10.1016/S1366-7017(01)00007-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krysanova V, Kundzewicz ZW, Piñskwar I et al (2006) Regional socio-economic and environmental changes and their impacts on water resources on example of Odra and Elbe. Water Resour Manag 20(4):607–641. doi:10.1007/s11269-006-3091-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leopold MB, Maddock T (1953) The hydraulic geometry of stream channels and some physiographic implications. United States Government Print Office, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Maseda F, Díaz F, Alvarez CJ (2004) Family Dairy Farms in Galicia (NW Spain); Classification by some family and farm factors relevant to quality of life. Biosyst Eng 87(4):509–521. doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2004.01.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MMA (1998) Real Decreto 927/1988, de 29 de julio, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Administración Pública del Agua y de la Planificación Hidrológica, en desarrollo de los Títulos II y III de la Ley de Aguas. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • MMA (2001) Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2001, de 20 de julio, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley de Aguas. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Muiño D, Cuesta TS, Iglesias JG et al (2005) Alternativas en la depuración de aguas residuales en pequeños núcleos rurales: el caso de la Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia. In: Abstracts of the IX international congress on project engineering, Asociación Española de Ingeniería de Proyectos, Málaga, 23–24 June, 2005

    Google Scholar 

  • Munné A, Prat N (2004) Defining river types in a mediterranean area: a methodology for the implementation of the EU water framework directive. Environ Manage 34(5):711–729. doi:10.1007/s00267-003-0098-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munné A, Prat N, Sola C et al (2003) A simple field method for assessing the ecological quality of riparian habitat in rivers and streams: QBR index. Aquat Conserv Mar Freshwat Ecosyst 13:147–163. doi:10.1002/aqc.529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neira XX, Marín A Gómez A et al (2004) Propuesta de indicadores ambientales de evaluación para el agua en la comarca de Terra Chá (Lugo). In: Abstracts of the Congresso Internacional sobre o Rio Minho 2004. Universidade do Minho, Melgaço, 26–28 May 2004

    Google Scholar 

  • Nienhuis PH (2006) Water and values: ecological research as the basis for water management and nature management. Hydrobiologia 565(1):261–275. doi:10.1007/s10750-005-1918-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ocampo-Duque W, Schuhmacher M, Domingo JL (2007) A neural-fuzzy approach to classify the ecological status in surface waters. Environ Pollut 148:634–641. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2006.11.027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prat N, Esteban A (2005) Sustainable alternatives of water management in urban areas of Mediterranean countries. The example of the greater Barcelona Region. In: Abstracts of the 3rd Dubrovnik conference on sustainable development of energy, water and environment systems. Dubrovnik, 5–10 June 2005

  • Prat N, Munné A (2000) Water use and quality and stream flow in a Mediterranean stream. Water Res 34(15):3876–3881. doi:10.1016/S0043-1354(00)00119-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puertas J, Pena L, Teijeiro T (2004) Experimental approach to the hydraulics of vertical slot fishways. J Hydraul Eng 130(1):10–23. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2004)130:1(10)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynoldson TB, Norris RH, Resh VH et al (1997) The reference condition: a comparison of multimetric and multivariative approaches to assess water-quality impairment using benthic macroinvertebrates. J N Bentholl Soc 16(4):833–852. doi:10.2307/1468175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rico E, Rallo A, Sevillano MA et al (1992) Comparison of several biological indices based on river macroinvertebrate benthic community for assessment of running water quality. Ann Limnol 28(2):147–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz B, de Wrachien D (2002) Irrigation and drainage systems research and development in the 21st century. Irrig Drain 51(4):311–327. doi:10.1002/ird.67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semenchenko VP, Moroz MD (2005) Comparative analysis of biotic indices in the monitoring system of running water in a biospheric reserve. Water Resour 32(2):200–203. doi:10.1007/s11268-005-0025-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Temez JR (1977) Modelo matemático de transformación precipitación-apostación. Asinel, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Sickle J, Huff DD, Hawkins CP (2006) Selecting discriminant function models for predicting the expected richness of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Freshw Biol 51(2):359–372. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2005.01487.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallin M, Wiederholm T, Johnson R (2003) Guidance on establishing reference conditions and ecological status class boundaries for inland surface waters. CIS Working Group 2.3–REFCOND CIS–WFD. Available at: http://www.minenv.gr/pinios/00/odhgia/7th_draft_refcond_final.pdf

  • Wattage P, Soussan J (2003) Incorporating environmental value and externality in project evaluation as a sustainability indicator to evaluate Bangladesh water development. Water Resour Manag 17(6):429–446. doi:10.1023/B:WARM.0000004957.49020.c3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO (1996) Water quality assessments—a guide to use of biota, sediments and water in environmental monitoring-second edition. In: Chapman C (ed). Available at: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/resourcesquality/wqa/en/index.html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural and Forestry Engineering Department, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    R. Carballo, J. J. Cancela, G. Iglesias, A. Marín, X. X. Neira & T. S. Cuesta

Authors
  1. R. Carballo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. J. Cancela
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G. Iglesias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. Marín
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. X. X. Neira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. T. S. Cuesta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. S. Cuesta.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Carballo, R., Cancela, J.J., Iglesias, G. et al. WFD Indicators and Definition of the Ecological Status of Rivers. Water Resour Manage 23, 2231–2247 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-008-9379-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-008-9379-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation