Water Directors meeting - Dresden Report to the Water Directors CIS workshop on national classification systems for the assessment of ecological status of surface waters 11 &12 June 2007 - Paris Water Directors meeting - Dresden 50 participants from 18 countries + EC 10 presentations : DGENV, Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, UK, France 3 sessions : ecological significance and combination of the biological quality elements role and place of the physico-chemical elements effect of aggregation, uncertainty, confidence & precision 18-19 June 2007

Water Directors meeting - Dresden Main points (1) State of play : different approaches and methods within national classification systems selection of quality elements combination of the biological elements place of physico-chemistry aggregation of data,… Water Directors meeting - Dresden 18-19 June 2007

Water Directors meeting - Dresden Main points (2) Illustrations taken from the various presentations : Selection of quality elements : all relevant biological elements listed in annex V a selection of elements (based on expert judgment, former risk analysis, available methods and data…), id. for physico-chemistry, e.g. : > 100 pollutants in a large river in a MS /  15 in another MS sharing the same river Place of chemistry : If chemistry does not match with biology, can we agree that biology « overrides » chemistry ? Water Directors meeting - Dresden 18-19 June 2007

Main points (3) These different approaches influence the results of classification with the following paradox : more quality elements and data for classification means less chance to be classified as good ecological status (if One Out – All Out strictly applied). Therefore, despite the huge ongoing work in the frame of the CIS (intercalibration, monitoring,…), no final guarantee of « comparable levels of ambition » between MS ! Water Directors meeting - Dresden 18-19 June 2007

Water Directors meeting - Dresden Possible follow-up Need for common views about the classification of ecological status : « complement » to the guidance on classification (elaborated in 2003), based on practical case-studies ? 3 directions proposed : How to ensure comparability between MS whereas different QE can be used for the classification ? How to manage risks of misclassification (combination of biological elements, checking procedure for chemistry) ? How to better communicate about the results of the final assessment ? Water Directors meeting - Dresden 18-19 June 2007