River Hydromorphological Assessment and Monitoring Methodologies

Summary of European country questionnaires.

Publication: Report
Citation: Kampa, E. & Bussettini, M., 2018. River Hydromorphological Assessment and Monitoring Methodologies: Part 1 – Summary of European country questionnaires.

The present report is about methodologies used in European countries for river hydromorphological assessment and monitoring across scales. It has been developed as part of the work programme 2016-2018 of the Common Implementation Strategy Ad-hoc Task Group on Hydromorphology. It summarises key information reported via a questionnaire on hydromorphological assessment methods used in European countries for WFD implementation. The report is available for download.

The experience from implementing the WFD so far shows that there is a need to take hydromorphology better into account, in status assessment, monitoring, characterisation as well as in the design and implementation of measures. Especially, the assessment of hydromorphological pressures needs to be improved substantially. The availability of information on hydromorphological pressures for the first River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) was scarce in many Member States, as this issue was largely not regulated before the WFD. However, it is expected that Member States will have much better information basis for the update of the pressures and impacts analysis for the 2nd RBMPs.

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Hydromorphological alterations for drainage are widespread pressures on water bodies in Europe. Because of the importance of the water uses relying on drainage schemes, such as agriculture and urban areas, not all necessary restoration measures can be taken without significant adverse effect on the water use. Therefore many of the affected water bodies have been designated as heavily modified (HMWB). Still, in a substantial number of these water bodies, some mitigation measures should be taken to reach Good Ecological Potential (GEP). The report, edited by Ecologic Institute's Dr. Eleftheria Kampa and Dr. Josselin Rouillard, is available for download.

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One of the core activities for the Common Implementation Strategy Working Group ECOSTAT between 2013 and 2017 has been to try to compare the ecological quality expected by different countries for water bodies impacted by flood protection. The process involved the use of a number of workshops and questionnaires to collect relevant information from European water managers. This report, edited by Dr. Eleftheria Kampa (Ecologic Institute) and Martina Bussettini, is based on information collected via a template on mitigation measures for water bodies impacted by flood defence structures, which was completed by 18 countries. The report is available for download.

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Project

In the latest Work Programme 2016-2018 of the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Water Directors of European countries agreed specific Ad-hoc Task Groups (ATGs) should be set up on the following topics: (1) Best practice and guidance on dealing with hydromorphology and (2) Guidance on WFD Article 4(7) on exemptions for new modifications. Ecologic Institute and its partner Fresh Thoughts have been commissioned to provide to DG Environment of the European Commission support and advice on scientific, socio-economic and technical issues related to the activities of the ATGs on Article 4(7) Guidance and Hydromorphology.

CIS Guidance on Article 4(7), Inter-comparison of Good Ecological Potential and Hydromorphological Assessment Methods

May 2017 - Nov 2018

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Language: English
Authorship: Dr. Eleftheria Kampa

Martina Bussettini
Funding: European Commission, Directorate-General Environment (DG Environment), International
Year: 2018
Dimension: 126 pp.
Project: CIS Guidance on Article 4(7), Inter-comparison of Good Ecological Potential and Hydromorphological Assessment Methods
Project ID: 2626-01
Table of contents: Click to show full table of contents

1 Introduction
1.1 Scope of the report
2 European country Questionnaire on Hydromorphological Assessment and Monitoring
2.1 Responding countries
3 Report structure
4 Overview of methods in European countries
6 Use of methods for different purposes
7 Application of methods
8 General characteristics of the methods
8.1 Source of information / data collection
8.2 Longitudinal and lateral spatial scales
8.3 Defining reference conditions
8.4 Use of hydromorphological types
8.5 Temporal dimension
8.6 Severity of hydromorphological pressures
9 Recording of hydromorphological features
9.1 Recording of hydrological features
9.2 Recording of morphological features
9.3 Recording of continuity features
9.4 Recording of other artificial elements
9.5 Consideration of processes
10 Assessment output of methods
11 Key strengths and weaknesses of methods
12 Lessons learned
13 References
Annex I: Strengths, weaknesses and challenges of methods
Annex II: Questionnaire responses on e-flows
Annex III: Key references for the reported methods
Annex IV: European country questionnaire on hydromorphological assessment and monitoring
Annex V: Guide to the entries of the Questionnaire
Annex VI: List of national experts responding to the Questionnaire
Keywords: Water

hydromorphology, Water Framework Directive, WFD, monitoring, hydromorphological assessment, rivers

Europe

Source URL: https://www.ecologic.eu/16223