ICP Waters Heleen de Wit Head Programme Centre Norwegian Institute for Water Research Gunnar Skotte, Chair Norwegian Environment Agency Reporting the activities of the 2014/15 work plan. -fullfilled the objectives? One or two points. Main achievements ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Programme aims Assess the degree and geographic extent of the impact of atmospheric pollution, in particular acidification, on surface waters Collect information to evaluate dose/response relationships Describe and evaluate long-term trends and variation in aquatic chemistry and biota attributable to atmospheric pollution Core activities Biological and chemical monitoring in acid-sensitive surface waters Database maintenance Annual chemical and biological intercomparison ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

New reports Mercury report (workplan 2016-2017 item 1.1.1.8) In print (ICP Waters report 132/2017) Report on spatial extent of acidification (workplan 2016- 2017 item 1.1.1.8) Underway, will be ready next year. Annual reports (download at icp-waters.no): Task Force proceedings Chemical intercomparison Biological intercalibration ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Spatial patterns and temporal trends of mercury in freshwater fish in Fennoscandia Braaten, Åkerblom et al., 2017 Joint effort ICP Waters – ICP Integrated Monitoring www.icp-waters.no A few slides from the report ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Thanks to many co-authors and to long-term funders of mercury monitoring in fish Hans Fredrik Veiteberg Braaten1, Staffan Åkerblom2, Heleen A. de Wit1, Gunnar Skotte3, Martti Rask4, Jussi Vuorenmaa5, Kimmo K. Kahilainen6, Tommi Malinen6, Sigurd Rognerud1, Espen Lydersen7, Per-Arne Amundsen8, Nicholas Kashulin9, Tatiana Kashulina9, Petr Terentyev9, Guttorm Christensen10 ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Is mercury in fish impacted by reduced air pollution? Hg in fish in boreal lakes originates in many cases from transboundary air pollution Do emission reductions of Hg help to reduce Hg in fish? EMEP/CCC Report 1/2016 ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Collation of data from Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Russia 1965-2015 ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Mercury levels in fish exceed environmental quality factors ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Only lakes mainly affected by atmospheric sources of Hg Red: perch Green: pike Black: standardized Only lakes mainly affected by atmospheric sources of Hg Hg south north year ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Conclusions Ca 40% of fish have Hg levels exceeding environmental quality standards Advised limits used in advisories for human consumption of fish- WFD EQS – 99% of all fish exceed this EQS! Environmental problem! Related to local and to atmospheric pollution sources No evidence of declining levels of Hg in fish in lakes impacted by atmospheric Hg sources In lakes that are impacted by local pollution sources, there is a decline Minamata Convention has entered into force Database is useful baseline for monitoring of impacts of reducing Hg emissions to air Data are also valuable for evaluating impacts of other (local) emission reductions We will continue to analyse the database for relations with environmental drivers. ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Regional assessment of acidification – thematic report 2018 Objective: To assess the current extent of surface water acidification in Europe and possibly North America. The assessment is intended to be a policy-friendly add-on to the assessment of exceedance of critical loads of acidity, reflecting the present-day conditions of acid-sensitive surface waters. Target group: Policy makers (LTRAP, NEC, others) and scientists NFC contributions important ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Approach Identify acid-sensitive regions Timeline National contributions based on all data accessible, not just ICP Waters sites enquiry sent in March; discussed at TF meeting; call for data in July with deadline November 1. We expect contributions from UNECE parties and from (some) EECCA countries Assess acidification status Overview based on submitted data National chapters produced by the NFCs Water Framework Directive Data Timeline March 2018: Draft report May 2018: Final discussion at TF meeting September 2018: Final report ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Based on geology of bedrock, not on soils ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

NEC Directive Extended ICP Waters sites Core ICP Waters sites ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Acid sensitivity from critical loads 7 countries report CLs for water to the CCE Also available for selected Italian lakes Other countries? Background database has data elsewhere Based on SMD model Where does soil information come from? CCE, May 2017 ICP Waters Kari Austnes 11.05.2017

NEC directive ICP Waters is the best network in Europe for data&expertise on air pollution effects on surface waters What is the coverage of the ICP Waters monitoring network? What is the relation between the ICP waters monitoring network and monitoring under relevant EU law (in this case the Water Framework Directive)? What is the relation between the ICP waters monitoring network and the EEA's volunteer data collection from 16000 river stations and 3000 lake stations? What are the priorities for reinforcing freshwater monitoring networks to fulfil the requirements of the NEC Directive? ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

LTRAP & Water Framework Directive EEA does not request data on acid neutralising capacity not ideal for assessment of acification Water bodies defined under WFD > 0.5 km2. Many lakes in ICP Waters are headwater lakes, and smaller than 0.5 km2 Bodies under WGE contribute to guidance documents for monitoring of air pollution effects on ecosystems under NEC Directive ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Homepage ICP Waters New functionality: data exploration Water chemical data become more visible QA/QC can be done by focal centres So far, mean annual water chemistry, not raw data http://www.icp-waters.no/data/explore-data/ ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017

Task Force meeting 2017&2018 2017 - second joint meeting with ICP Integrated Monitoring, in Uppsala, May 9-11 2018 – third joint meeting with ICP Integrated Monitoring in Warsaw, May 7-9 ICP Waters - WGE-EMEP sept 2017