Ten years of the Water Framework Directive in Spain: An overview of the ecological and chemical status of surface water bodies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Wachholz ◽  
Seifeddine Jomaa ◽  
Olaf Büttner ◽  
Robert Reinecke ◽  
Michael Rode ◽  
...  

<p>Due to global climate change, the past decade has been the warmest for Germany since the beginning of climate records. Not only air temperature but also precipitation patterns are changing and therefore influencing the hydrologic cycle. This will certainly influence the chemical status of ground- and surface water bodies as mobilization, dilution and chemical reactions of contaminants are altered. However, it is uncertain if those alterations will impact water quality for better or worse and how they occur spatially. Since water management in Europe is handled at the regional scale, we suggest that an investigation is needed at the same scale to capture and quantify the different responses of the chemical status of water bodies to climate change and extreme weather conditions. In this study, we use open-access data to (1) quantify changes in temperature, precipitation, streamflow and groundwater levels for the past 40 - 60 years and (2) assess their impacts on nutrient concentrations in surface- and groundwater bodies. To disentangle management from climate effects we pay special attention to extreme weather conditions in the past decade. Referring to the Water Framework Directive, we chose the river basin district Elbe as our area of interest. Preliminary results indicate that especially the nitrate concentrations in surface water bodies of the Elbe catchment were positively affected in the last two years, while no significant impact on nitrate levels in shallow groundwater bodies was witnessed. However, many wells showed the first significant increase in water table depth in both years since 1985, raising the question of how fast groundwater-surface water interactions will change in the next years.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Schmitt ◽  
Henning Schroeder ◽  
Nadine Belkouteb ◽  
Julia Arndt ◽  
Jan Wiederhold ◽  
...  

<p></p><p>An instantaneous assessment of the chemical status of surface water bodies provides the ability to better predict the water quality, react in time, and be able to backtrack sources. Also, it is widely accepted that knowledge of the natural chemistry of surface waters is fundamental for identifying anthropogenic pollution (Menzie et al., 2009). The chemical composition of water bodies is controlled by various factors (i.e. atmospheric, geological, biological, etc.). However, the main impact beside anthropogenic pollution is the geological background (e.g. Filella et al., 2014).</p><p>To monitor and understand the chemical status it is necessary to measure, with the best possible reliability, a wide spectrum of inorganic analytes. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is widely-accepted as versatile instrument in trace element determination due to its low detection limits, fast multi-element ability and wide dynamic range. The appearance of various polyatomic interferences, low analyte abundance and low sensitivity due to high ionization energy are major challenges in accomplishing precise, routine suitable, multi-element analysis to quantify all target elements which often requires complex pre-measurement treatments. The triple quadrupole ICP-MS (ICP-QQQ-MS; resp. ICP-MS/MS) is a promising tool to overcome some of these limitations. Therefore, our aim was to create a multi-element method with about 65 major and trace elements for surface water. In contrast to existing ICP-MS methods, a single-run-measurement of all analytes is envisaged, including also challenging elements like B, C, P, S, Hg, and REE without a pre-concentration or matrix removal step. The development exhibits very low Limits of Quantification for Rhine and Moselle river water (e.g. REE < 10 ppt).</p><p>Our method is based on certified reference material, single element standards (traceable to NIST) and samples from the Rhine and Moselle rivers (Germany). Single element optimized methods were adjusted to the multi-element monitoring purpose. We optimized different collision/reaction cell modes (O<sub>2</sub>, He, H<sub>2</sub>) to eliminate isobaric, polyatomatic and/or double charged interferences and the multi-element calibration cross check for memory effects and uncertainties. Hence, we developed a powerful method for surface water quality monitoring and hydro-chemical fingerprinting adaptable to the specific user requirements.</p><p>Filella, M., Pomian-Srzednicki, I., Nirel, P.M., 2014. Development of a powerful approach for classification of surface waters by geochemical signature. Water Res 50, 221-228.</p><p>Menzie, C.A., Ziccardi, L.M., Lowney, Y.W., Fairbrother, A., Shock, S.S., Tsuji, J.S., Hamai, D., Proctor, D., Henry, E., Su, S.H., 2009. Importance of considering the framework principles in risk assessment for metals. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43, 22, 8478-8482.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Gericke ◽  
Judith Mahnkopf ◽  
Markus Venohr

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
V. Zaslonovsky ◽  
◽  
N. Sharapov ◽  
M. Bosov ◽  
◽  
...  

The paper is devoted to the development of proposals concerning the improvement of surface water bodies and the appointment of target indicators of the natural waters’ quality. The paper considers a variety of problems of preserving, restoring and improving the quality of natural surface waters: from regional features of the formation of natural water composition, to differences in the requirements for the quality of water consumed. The object of the study is the qualitative indicators of the waters of natural water bodies, and the subject of the study is the methodological approaches to the normalization of these indicators. The purpose of the work is to identify the main shortcomings in the domestic system of rationing the quality of natural waters, and to form appropriate proposals. For this purpose, the following tasks were set and solved: to review the methodological approaches to assessing and rationing the quality of natural waters used in some foreign countries and in the Russian Federation, to identify the main causes and shortcomings; to make proposals for improving the current system of water quality rationing. The result of this work is the conclusions about the lack of impact of the strategy operating in Russia in the development of schemes of complex use and protection of water objects, standards of permissible impact on water bodies, the appointment of permissible discharge limits in terms of maintaining and improving the water quality of natural water bodies. The reasons that led to this are indicated. The necessity of taking into account, in addition to the physical and chemical composition, also hydrobiological parameters is shown. It is concluded that instead of fisheries management standards, environmental standards should serve as the basis for target indicators of water quality of natural water bodies, which determine the well-being of humans and the stable functioning of aquatic ecosystems, taking into account regional factors. Proposals were made to adjust the methodological approaches to the implementation of this strategy. According to the authors, these proposals will speed up the solution of the main objectives of the strategy – the ecological improvement of water bodies, the preservation of unique aquatic ecosystems and the environmentally safe development of territories that previously experienced relatively small anthropogenic impacts (Eastern Siberia and the Far East)


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