Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland1 Classification and monitoring of the surface waters of Finland National WFD-monitoring and revised classification of ecological status

Quality elements  Biology: Algae, Macrophytes, Fish, Benthic animals  Water quality: Total nutrients and pH  Hazardous substances: EU’s Priority substances, National list of hazardous substances  Hydro-morphological alterations: Magnitude of water level and discharge regulation of lakes and rivers, Modifications of river channels and lake shores, Migration barriers Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland2

Revision of classification and monitoring 2013  Classification revised for 2. water management cycle –New quality variables and indexes –Subtypes for Northern and Southern waters –Revised reference values and class limits for most variables  Monitoring network revised by the end of 2013 –Pressures for cutting off the costs: reduction of monitored water-bodies and biological variables?? Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland3

Biological monitoring: Algae  Lakes: Phytoplankton (NEW: littoral periphyton)  Rivers: Periphyton (Diatoms) in rapids  Coastal waters: Phytoplankton, Kelp vegetation (Southern areas) Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland4

Biological monitoring: Algae: Indicators (1)  Phytoplankton: Reference values and class limits revised, new variables for lakes –Chlorophyll-α concentration –TPI (Trophic plankton-index) –Total biomass –Blue-green algae % of tot. biomass  Macroalgae (Kelp) –Distribution and maximum depth of kelp vegetation –Kelp does not occur in Northern Baltic Sea Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland5

Biological monitoring: Algae: Indicators (2)  Periphyton (Diatoms) –Formerly used IPS- index discarded –For rivers, Northern and Southern subtypes added –New reference values and class limits –Rivers & Lakes:  Number of type-specific species (TT 40 )  Percent Model Affinity (PMA) Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland6

Biological monitoring: Macrophytes  Lakes, use in rivers under development  Northern and Southern subtypes  Indicators: –Type-specific species % of tot. no. of species –PMA (Percent Model Affinity) –Eutrophication Index –NEW: Reference values for naturally eutrophic lakes Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland7

Biological monitoring: Benthic invertebrates  Lakes: Profundal, (NEW: lake littoral area)  Rivers: Rapids  Coastal areas: Soft substrate bottoms Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland8

Biological monitoring: Benthos, indicators (1)  Rivers and Lake littorals: new reference values and class limits for Northern and Southern freswaters  Rivers: –No. of type-specific species (TT) –No. of type-specific sensitive (EPT) species –PMA (Percent Model Affinity)  Lake littorals: –No. of type-specific species (TT) –PMA (Percent Model Affinity) Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland9

Biological monitoring: Benthos, indicators (2)  Lake profundals: –BQI (Benthic Quality Index) discarded –Profundal Invertebrate Community Metric (PICM) –PMA (Percent Model Affinity), updated  Coastal waters: –BBI (Brackish water benthic index), type-specific benthic index Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland10

Biological monitoring: Fish  Lakes: Survey fishing with NORDIC-nets  Rivers: Electrofishing of rapids –Updated reference values and class limits Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland11

Biological monitoring: Fish, indicators  Lakes: Fish-index, includes: –Total biomass, Total no. of individuals –Cyprinid % of tot. biomass –Natural occurence of indicator species  Rivers: FiFi-index, includes: –No. of species –Proportion of sensitive species –Proportion of tolerant species –Density of Cyprinid-populations –Density of natural Salmonid fry Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland12

Updates on water quality classifications  River pH: classification based on mean of yearly minimum pH’s of observation period (recommended ). Earlier, classification was based on observed minimum.  Lakes: –New ref. values and class limits for P and N on shallow, humic lakes  Coastal waters: –Based on tot. nutrient concentration in summer (previously based on winter observations). –Classifications for secchi depth and profundal oxygen concentration Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland13

14 Characterized waters in Tana-Neiden-Pasvik Basin All rivers >100 km 2 and lakes >1 km 2 should be classified by June Data scarce -> expert judgement based on existing pressures using grouping of water bodies by type Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland

2013: Classification of border rivers Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland15

Classification of border lakes Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland16

Example Lake Inari (Lagre clearwater lake -type) Biological elements:  PhytoplanktonEQR = 1,48  Macrophytes /EQR = 0,56 PhytobenthosEQR = 0,83  Littoral benthos / EQR = 0,35 Profundal benthos EQR = 0,75  Fish EQR = 0,97 -> Biological status mean EQR = 0,84 -> Expert judgement 17 high moderate high poor good high good

Example Lake Inari (continued) Physico-chemical status –total nutrients etc. Chemical status –priority substances < EQS as expert judgement Hydromorphological status –slightly altered -> Ecological status high good

Moderate lakes in first period in RBD Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland19

Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland20 Blue: Basic monitoring Red: Operational mon. Green: Basic & Operational Triangles: Lakes Circles: Rivers Monitoring in Lapland

Present monitoring in Lapland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland21 -Biological sampling in majority of monitoring stations. -Monitoring sites represent existing surface water types (goal is to include at least 3 sites/type/Basin). -EU-directives cause pressures to increase the number of stations, especially on smaller rivers and lakes -Resources already insufficient…

Revision of national monitoring  National monitoring network will be ”updated” by the end of 2013  Savings in state administration may create needs for reduction of monitoring costs –May cut down the number of monitoring stations and reduce monitoring frequency especially for biological variables  Obligation monitoring by industry, mines etc. and voluntary monitoring by civil organisations should be fully utilized in monitoring –Limited possibilities in Northern Lapland due to lack of industry and small, aging population of the region –The quality of voluntary monitoring data? Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland22

THANK YOU! Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Lapland