Interreg Sudoe

Interreg IV B

Cooperar está en sus manos

Bolsa de Proyectos

Título del proyecto

Última revisión:: 11/01/2012
Prioridad:: Medio Ambiente: Cambio climático
Palabras clave:: Water Framework Directve (WFD), River District Plans (RDP), Programme of Measures (WFD), international catchments, SIG, monitoring programs
Objetivos:: Objectives of the project It is intended to analyse the criteria how the monitoring strategy of WFD has been applied in the shared catchments of Portugal and Spain and the linkage between the classification of the status of water bodies and the Program of Measures of RDP. The objectives may then to be split in four groups: I) Analysis between the divergences related to the assessment of the ecological state: of water bodies and establishment of common tools to quantify the biological and the hydromorphological condition II) Analysis of the Programmes of measures in the respective catchment plans in order to observe if they are integrative and complementary between each country. Establishment of unifying procedures of action to rehabilitate the aquatic systems and to reduce environmental stress III) Definition of a strategy for a desirable exchange of information about the situation in each country and for an integration of data (from GIS to biological and environmental data). IV) Assessment of the level of the public participation and sensitivity and the possibility of acquiring a global consciousness taking into account the entire catchment river types, as a preparation for further common RDPs in the shared catchments. From the study of all the mentioned situations it will be defined the convenient procedures to obtain an integrative assessment and programs of measures to achieve the improvement of the the disturbed systems and the conditions imposed by the WFD.
Resumen:: Introduction The Water Framework Directve (WFD) imposed new challenges on the management of the aquatic systems since the goal is that thethese ecosystems should present a global "good ecological state" which is independent from the human uses. For this purpose it was necessary to set the rules for the ecological assessment. A tremendous task since this evaluation is based mainly on the aquatic communities, and we know that there is a notorious variation of biotic conditions along geographical regions, even in the same catchment along the typological gradient. This occurs even at limited spatial scales, therefore to make comparable the assessement between large scales or countries it was necessary define the reference condition for each river type. Moreover, it was necessary to define for each type the metrics or variables in the different communities that are sensitive to the several kinds of disturbance, followed by classing them along five levels to obtain the degree of deviation from the reference condition (EQR _Ecological Quality Ratio). The EQR sets after all the ecological state, which requires the survey of the communities and as well the inventory of the surrounding environmental conditions (defined as "support elements", and that include water quality and hydromorphology). It is strictly necessary that each country is consistent with the EQRs for each type and the different countries produce similar results in order that the quantification of disturbance has the same boundaries whatever is the country or the region under consideration. The monitoring programs following these rules includes the definition of a network of sites to be monitored, whch are divided in operational, surveillance and investigation sites according their characteristics and human impacts. The process is similar in the Heavily Modified or Artificial Water Bodies, which in Iberian Peninsula affect practically the entire length of the main rivers, transformed in a succession of reservoirs (for hydroelectric purposes or for irrigation). In these cases the EQR is measured from a "potential reference condition", which may be theoretical defined by using, for instance, mathematical models or paleolimnology since is a prediction of biological and environmental conditions that the systems may develop in nthe absence of stressing agents. Of course that the implementation of the WFD does not end with the correct assessment of inland waters: The River District Plans (RDP) besides a global picture of the freshwaters should incorporate a Programme of Measures, this is, the specific planning that is necessary to drive the systems that display moderate to bad conditions to a level of the desirable good ecological state. This means that it is necessary to obtain a precise assessment, to identify the water bodies that may not accomplish in 2015 the good state, to reach the causes of such situation and to avoid a further deterioration of the observed conditions and to plan all the actions that may reverse the situation in order to achieve the desirable levels from deviation from the reference condition. Problem description The most important feature of the WFD is the integrative character as the key for management and water protection. This integration has to deal with the integration of water resources and also to management integration of the policy adopted by different countries that share the same catchment. This implies the need of intercalibration between the state members which has been defined from the beging by the European Commission, and different GICs (Groups Intercalibration) have been created for the different areas (for instance to obtain comparable results for fishes, micro and macrophytes, invertebrates or even for water quality and habitat characterisation). However, one of the crucial objectives of Water Management under the WFD is that the catchment is the unit of action, even if the RD includes a multitude of catchments distributed in several types, of course each of them with specific EQR classes . This is also true for the International Catchments, but here the challenges are of a higher dimension since each country conducted the process of implementation of the WFD in a independent manner, nevertheless observing the principles of this Directive which was transposed to the legal framework in each country. Such policies lead to differences in sampling methods, selection of locals with different criteria for allocation of sampling sites (and their mesh for operational and survey procedures), number of river types and relative areas, distinct indices or metrics or boundaries between classes, even in similar types, etc. , Therefore, in spite that there was an attempt to standardized the variety of techniques and methodologies, under the efforts of the european GICs, the true is that the ecological assessment were conducted in a independent manner in the international catchments. This happened in Portugal and Spain (but it is extensive to most of the EU countries) in the shared catchments including. a) the definition of network strategy for the location of sites for survey or operational monitoring; b) guides for collecting and processing biological material and hydromorphological features; c) reference and potential condition and EQR boundaries for biota and support elements; d) assessment systems for quantifying the level of degradation; d) extrapolation procedures for waterbodies not sampled. No doubt that the the classification of the status of the water bodies will be reflected in the Programme of Measures of the RDP.Moreover, the country situated at the downstream part of the catchment is dependent on the anthropogenic pressures that occurr in the upper area (contamination or hydrological disruptions), and the planning that may lead disturbed river segments or reservoirs to reach the ecological objectives have to be set in a close cooperation. Public participation, from ONGs to individual citizens, goes side by side with all the steps of the implementation of the WFD but this participation, even in international catchments, is generally very limited across borders. It is true that there was important achievements between the authorities of Portugal and Spain, particularly between ARH-N (Administração da Região Hidrográfica do Norte) and the Confederacións Hidrográficas Miño-Sil and Duero, from the beginning of Besides it is known that water management between countries is nowadays a conflicting matter and the climate changes will probably increase this tendency. Therefore, it is specially relevant to lay on a coordination of procedures to deal not only with the extreme events (droughts and floods), but also with the economical developments projected: for instance, the irrigation needs in the Spanish part of Douro basin may lead to a decrease of 15% of flow in the Portuguese part, increasing the eutrophication in the succession of reservoirs, which is already troubling. The same scenario arises in Tagus river and the projected diversions to Andalucia. Another feature is that the enormous bulk of information that is produced under the programas of monitorization is incorporated independently in the national data banks and GIS layers making more difficult a common action, requiring then appropriate standardization
Gasto subvencionable:: 0,00 €
FEDER que se pretende solicitar (en €):: 0,00 €
¿ Tiene beneficiarios ya implicados ?:: Sí
Perfil de los beneficiarios requeridos:: universities or public institutes (Miño-Sil - Duero)
Origen geográfico:: España