1. REFCOND Workshop Uppsala, 14-15 May 2001
Comparative analysis of river quality classification schemes in Europe
Steve Nixon
European Topic Centre on Water

2. Comparative analysis of river quality classification schemes in Europe
Undertaken by the ETC-IW for the EEA
Includes EEA countries and PHARE countries
Potential source of comparable and representative information for EEA
Relevance to the Water Framework Directive
Differences and commonalities in national schemes in relation to the needs of the EEA and WFD

3. Technical aspects that affect comparability
type of classification (physical, chemical, biological or integrated)
selection of determinands
basis of comparison
number of classes
monitoring requirements

4. Presentation contents
Results from national schemes
Extent of classification schemes
Determinands used
physicochemical
biological
physical
pollutants
Basis of comparison (reference conditions)
Sampling frequency and sampling window
Class defining thresholds

5. National river classification schemes

6. Countries included EEA Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany
Ireland Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands Norway
Portugal Spain
Sweden UK
15 countries
PHARE
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria Croatia
Czech Rep. Estonia
FYR of Macedonia
Hungary Latvia
Lithuania Poland
Romania
Slovak Rep. Slovenia
13 countries

7. Objectives of classification schemes
Assessing ‘general’ chemical or biological water quality including ‘background/ reference quality’
Identifying particular pressures/stressors
Helping to identify cause-effect
Determining the success or failure of control or reduction measures
Demonstrating long-term trends in determinands
Identifying suitability of water for particular uses
Determining river habitat suitability for aquatic life.

8. Purpose of river quality classifications in 27 countries
Number of countries

9. Type of river quality classifications used in 27 countries
Number of countries

10. Extent of classification schemes

12. National river classifications in relation to length of river included
Percentage

13. Lengths of river in each class
km of river

14. Classification schemes and associated determinands

15. Number of determinands
Number of physico-chemical determinands used in 25 national river classification schemes
% of schemes
Number of determinands

16. Number of river stations measuring physico-chemical determinands

17. Number of river stations for different types of determinand

18. Length of river per station for different types of determinandkm

19. Biological quality elements used in river classification schemes in EU

20. Use of macroinvertebrates in national river classification schemes

21. Other biological quality elements used or under development

22. River classifications based on physical characteristics

23. Number of pesticide active ingredients monitored for in groundwater in EEA countries
France and Norway also monitor their groundwater
Number

24. Number of chemical substances in COMMPS database by country

25. Sediment/biota classification

26. Misclassification and the significance of change in class
Probability of misclassification depends
type and number of variables measured
classification design
number and width of classes
number of sites
number of samples
sampling frequency
E&W 19% risk of misclassification for chemical, and 22 % for biological

27. Number of classes

28. Number of classes used in 26 national river classification schemes

29. Basis of comparisons in classification schemes

30. Options for comparison in classification schemes
comparison of measured levels of the selected determinands
in terms of ‘background’ or natural levels
in relation to the chance of a biological effect or change in water use occurring
direct measures of the biology
in relation to reference conditions and changes in ecological quality

31. Classification in relation to the chance of a biological effect occurring - Water-SEQ

32. Establishment of type-specific reference conditions
type‑specific hydromorphological and physicochemical conditions shall be established representing the values of the hydromorphological and physicochemical quality elements … for that surface water body type at high ecological status
Type‑specific biological reference conditions shall be established representing the values of the biological quality elements … for that surface water body type at high ecological status

33. Reference conditions used in national river schemes - biological quality

34. Reference conditions used in national river schemes - biological quality

35. Reference conditions used in national river schemes - physical quality

36. Sampling frequency and sampling window

37. Sampling period and sampling frequency (per year) for chemical assessments

38. Sampling details for biological assessment of rivers in EU

39. Class defining threshold values

40. Class defining thresholds -Ammonium
mg N/l

41. Class defining thresholds Orthophosphate
mg P/l

42. Classification statistics

43. Classification statistics used for chemical assessment schemes (EU)

44. Concluding comments

45. Differences between national river classification schemes
Types of classification (chemical, biological, habitat, ecological)
Type of monitoring network (general, impact, transboundary, loads to sea)
Representativeness of monitoring network
Number and positioning of sampling stations
Number of quality classes used
Classification based on sampling site or sampling reach
Number and type of determinands used

46. Differences between national river classification schemes (2)
Environmental media analysed
Units measured, calculated and expressed for determinands
Indices or statistical approaches used to derive summary determinands
Sampling frequencies
Class-limiting thresholds
Inclusion or exclusion of any values suspected of being errors or extreme cases
Subjectivity in assigning a sampling site to a class
What information is reported
Number of years data used for each assessment

47. Commonalities between national river classification schemes
Most countries do have a classification scheme
Most include an impact network
Most include reference stations though these is most, if not all, cases will not equate to reference conditions as defined by the WFD
Most include a number of physicochemical, biological and microbiological elements
Most use 4 quality classes

48. Commonalities between national river classification schemes (2)
All analyse water from the water column
Most include DO, BOD, phosphorus and nitrogen and many include COD, salts, temperature, conductivity, suspended solids, metals and some organic micropollutants
Most use benthic macroinvertebrates in biological assessments
Most analyse physicochemical determinands twelve times per year and biological determinands twice per year
Most report classification as colour-coded water quality classification maps