Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) assessment scheme has been putting in force the evaluation of freshwater ecosystems in Europe, including a new paradigm of ecological status. After almost 20 years since the WFD implementation, it is imperative to evaluate the efficiency of its standard assessm...

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Autores principales:	Joana Isabel Santos, Tânia Vidal, Fernando J.M. Gonçalves, Bruno Branco Castro, Joana Luísa Pereira
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Ecological Risk Assessment Freshwater ecosystems Ecological status Tiered assessment scheme Water quality Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/888fa107d40742bcbd674e952c034723
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:888fa107d40742bcbd674e952c0347232021-12-01T04:32:54ZChallenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107030https://doaj.org/article/888fa107d40742bcbd674e952c0347232021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X20309699https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XThe EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) assessment scheme has been putting in force the evaluation of freshwater ecosystems in Europe, including a new paradigm of ecological status. After almost 20 years since the WFD implementation, it is imperative to evaluate the efficiency of its standard assessment scheme and to explore the possibility of learning how to improve its effectiveness. That is the spirit of this review, aiming (i) to explore the existing literature on the WFD bioassessment scheme for assessing freshwater ecosystem health, particularly in lotic ecosystems (where the WFD scheme is most consolidated); (ii) to document which paths are suggested by the scientific community to improve the efficiency of the bioassessment in tackling current challenges. In the specific arena of bioassessment, we first identify the major constraints to the WFD full implementation in rivers. Second, we analyse retrospective Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) as an evaluation approach supporting management actions that could inspire improvements in the WFD bioassessment scheme. Third, we review the advances and debate on complementary metrics to improve WFD evaluation protocols and/or the feasibility of the evaluation outcome. Fourth, a conceptual scheme for an improved evaluation strategy is presented. Our proposal essentially merges the WFD bioassessment scheme with the ERA philosophy, proposing a tiered approach of increasing complexity and spatial resolution, where expert judgement is included surgically at all decision stages. This scheme requires true integration of chemical, ecological and ecotoxicological LoE for a quantitative estimation of risks, and provides a comprehensive framework that accommodates tools and perspectives already suggested by other authors. Besides providing a literature review on the strengths and weaknesses of the current WFD bioassessment scheme, we wish to open way for the scientific discussion towards an improved conceptual scheme for the evaluation of ecosystem health.Joana Isabel SantosTânia VidalFernando J.M. GonçalvesBruno Branco CastroJoana Luísa PereiraElsevierarticleEcological Risk AssessmentFreshwater ecosystemsEcological statusTiered assessment schemeWater qualityEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 121, Iss , Pp 107030- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Ecological Risk Assessment Freshwater ecosystems Ecological status Tiered assessment scheme Water quality Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Ecological Risk Assessment Freshwater ecosystems Ecological status Tiered assessment scheme Water quality Ecology QH540-549.5 Joana Isabel Santos Tânia Vidal Fernando J.M. Gonçalves Bruno Branco Castro Joana Luísa Pereira Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?
description	The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) assessment scheme has been putting in force the evaluation of freshwater ecosystems in Europe, including a new paradigm of ecological status. After almost 20 years since the WFD implementation, it is imperative to evaluate the efficiency of its standard assessment scheme and to explore the possibility of learning how to improve its effectiveness. That is the spirit of this review, aiming (i) to explore the existing literature on the WFD bioassessment scheme for assessing freshwater ecosystem health, particularly in lotic ecosystems (where the WFD scheme is most consolidated); (ii) to document which paths are suggested by the scientific community to improve the efficiency of the bioassessment in tackling current challenges. In the specific arena of bioassessment, we first identify the major constraints to the WFD full implementation in rivers. Second, we analyse retrospective Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) as an evaluation approach supporting management actions that could inspire improvements in the WFD bioassessment scheme. Third, we review the advances and debate on complementary metrics to improve WFD evaluation protocols and/or the feasibility of the evaluation outcome. Fourth, a conceptual scheme for an improved evaluation strategy is presented. Our proposal essentially merges the WFD bioassessment scheme with the ERA philosophy, proposing a tiered approach of increasing complexity and spatial resolution, where expert judgement is included surgically at all decision stages. This scheme requires true integration of chemical, ecological and ecotoxicological LoE for a quantitative estimation of risks, and provides a comprehensive framework that accommodates tools and perspectives already suggested by other authors. Besides providing a literature review on the strengths and weaknesses of the current WFD bioassessment scheme, we wish to open way for the scientific discussion towards an improved conceptual scheme for the evaluation of ecosystem health.
format	article
author	Joana Isabel Santos Tânia Vidal Fernando J.M. Gonçalves Bruno Branco Castro Joana Luísa Pereira
author_facet	Joana Isabel Santos Tânia Vidal Fernando J.M. Gonçalves Bruno Branco Castro Joana Luísa Pereira
author_sort	Joana Isabel Santos
title	Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?
title_short	Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?
title_full	Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?
title_fullStr	Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?
title_full_unstemmed	Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?
title_sort	challenges to water quality assessment in europe – is there scope for improvement of the current water framework directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/888fa107d40742bcbd674e952c034723
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Challenges to water quality assessment in Europe – Is there scope for improvement of the current Water Framework Directive bioassessment scheme in rivers?

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