EEA State of Environment WISE Maps and Graphs, examples Peter Kristensen EEA and Anne Lyche Solheim, ETC-Water

WFD biological reporting

State of the Environment visualisation (EEA) The core of any water related State of Environment (SoE) assessment is to quantify and identify the current state of, and impacts on, water environment - how these are changing in time and whether the measures taken at different levels are effective. Such an assessment should: provide the basis for identification and assessment of environmental problems and the dominant threats at regional and European levels; provide information necessary to enable actions/policies to be taken to improve the environmental state of the water bodies and to ensure sustainable development; be based upon the most relevant time and spatial scales to meet the two objectives stated above

Visualisation of SoE data in WISE maps Different formats are used depending on the scale of the map: For pan-European maps (< scale 1 : 5 000 000), data are aggregated by country or national River Basin District (RBDs) level. For countries: maps show pie charts of the distribution of the variable into different classes (e.g. BOD, NO3, TotP etc.). The national RBDs are coloured according to the class obtained for the average of the variable for all the stations located within the RBD. Other statistics are currently tested to optimize representativity (e.g. median, 95% lowest stations…) For scales more detailed than 1 : 5 000 000, individual station points are visible and are coloured according to agreed categories for annual means of the variable. Symbol size depends on the map scale (more detailed map = bigger symbols).

September 2008: Maps available via the WISE map viewer http://www. eea

European maps (scale < 1 : 5 mill European maps (scale < 1 : 5 mill.) Example shows distribution of BOD in rivers, per country

European maps (scale < 1 : 5 mill European maps (scale < 1 : 5 mill.) Example shows average NO3 in rivers –per RBD

Potential development of RBD maps Dummy map Colouring of RBDs according to average of all stations, and extra information on the class distribution within each RBD

Lakes: Total phosprus Country: Pie-chart RBD: Average value

Scale more detailed than 1 : 5 000 000, individual station points visible and colored according the variable classification. Instead of stations, water bodies can be shown

Trends in nutrients 1992-2005

Trends of Tot P in lakes for different regions

What can be done with the biological data? Show trends of : EQRs for macroinvertebrates in rivers EQRs for phytoplankton in lakes EQRs for macrophytes in lakes Chlf a in lakes for different regions and lake types % bluegreens for different regions and lake types Macrophyte growing depth for different lake types Relative abundance of isoetids or charaphytes for different lake types Maps showing the same parameters in the same way as shown for nutrients above

How can the member countries benefit from biological data reporting? See their own data in relation to other countries See data from all countries for transboundary river basins, important for upstream vs. downstream countries See biological impacts of pollutants across Europe Analyse their own trends relative to the Pan-European or regional trends Enhance motivation for standardisation/ harmonisation of methods for biological elements Enhanve motivation for monitoring of biological elements Improve the basis for decision making on pollution reduction measures across Europe