Eutrophication Activity Status report Presented by Ana Cristina Cardoso

1. Eutrophication Activity Status report Presented by Ana Cristina Cardoso

2. Held in Ispra,14-15 September Representatives from all EU Member States were invited Documents are available on the CIRCA website (www.forum.europa.eu.int) Eutrophication Workshop

3. Workshop documents • Guidance on eutrophication assessment: • overview of the requirements for eutrophication assessment in different EU directives and conventions • conceptual framework of the eutrophication process • ECOSTAT discussion paper on principles of ecological status classification in relation to eutrophication

4. Conceptual framework • It was agreed that the conceptual framework provides a good basis for describing the critical processes/ effects of eutrophication in both marine areas and freshwaters • Experts in different water body categories suggested changes to the model - generalised to represent all surface water categories, by means of adjusting the terminology and linkages in the diagram

5. I SUPPORTING ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS physical and hydrodynamic aspects, and climatic/weatherconditions (e.g. flushing, wind, temperature, light availability), TRANSBOUNDARY TRANSPORT I NUTRIENT INPUTS TRANSBOUNDARY NUTRIENT FLUXES I (+) INCREASED (WINTER) DIN & DIP CONCENTRATIONS & NUTRIENT RATIOS (+) (+) (during growing season) II II (+) increase in turbidity (-) (+) (+) (+) decrease in light regime increase in primary production (+) II (-) III III (+) organic matter (+) (+) degree of oxygen deficiency (+) foam IV III (+) toxins (-) (-) (-) nuisance / toxic algal species (cell concentration) increase in phytoplankton biomass (chl-a) macrophytobenthos biomass and primary production shift from long-lived to short-lived nuisance macrophyte species and reduced depth distribution increase bacteria zoobenthos / fish kills & benthic community structure Ecosystem structure Conceptual Framework of the main cause/effect relationships proposed as a component of the OSPAR COMPP

7. The ECOSTATdiscussion paper on “Draft principles for Ecological status classification in relation to eutrophication” should be incorporated in the guidance

8. Date received From Date 01/09/2004 Violetta Vinceviciene 24/09/2004 Liliana 24/09/2004 ECOSTAT paper v8 24/09/2004 Germany 24/09/2004 20/09/2004 Austria 24/09/2004 Ireland 24/09/2004 01/10/2004 ECOSTAT paper v10 04/10/2004 28/09/2004 Finland 04/10/2004 27/09/2004 HELCOM 04/10/2004 Status summary of comments on v3.0 of Eutrophication Guidance

9. Version 2.0, discussed on Steering Group of 1 June 2004 Working Title: “Assessment of eutrophication in European water policy” Draft Table of contents: 1 Introduction Context History and scientific context of eutrophication assessment Scope of the document Purpose of the document Process of document development  2 Overview and common understanding on regulation of eutrophication in international policies 2.1Overview on Eutrophication in EU legislation (WFD, NiD, UWWD, others) Factual, brief presentation of relevant issues  2.2  Overview Eutrophication in other international policies (OSPAR, HELCOM, others) Factual, brief presentation of relevant issues 2.3Common understanding WFD CIS guidance document Common understanding relevant to eutrophication presented in the various CIS guidance document Next steps and open questions 2.4  Common understanding of the links/similarities/differences between the methodologies developed under different policies

10. 3Overall conceptual framework for the assessment of eutrophication 3.1 Requirements/Principles for the development of a conceptual framework 3.2Description of the conceptual eutrophication assessment framework 3.3 Explanation of the overall conceptual eutrophication assessment framework 4(Examples for) Classification criteria for the application of the conceptual framework 5Examples/case studies for the application of the conceptual framework 6Monitoring Best Practices and proposals for harmonising reporting 7Toolbox and best practices on applying the conceptual framework 8Conclusions and future work

11. Three new chapters were suggested • EEA offered to support: • A chapter on monitoring • Specify aspects in the existing Guidance on Monitoring relevant • for eutrophication assessment • How to monitor pressures (nutrient loading) from different sources • How to harmonise the monitoring in a way to satisfy the requirements in the different directives dealing with eutrophication • Recommendations for reporting results from eutrophication assessments and monitoring • A chapter on forthcoming tasks, e.g. link of assessment to pressures, sources and cost-effective measures.

12. Timetable-next steps 4 Oct: Draft meeting report by 4Oct (deadline for comments two weeks after receipt) Revision of the guidance: 24 Sept: Written comments (mainly chapter 2) 13 Oct: Revised guidance (chapters 1-4) Comments by Eutro Network directly to SCG members 27/28 Oct: Discussion SCG Mid-Nov: Revision 19 Nov: Submission to Water Directors Nov. 2004: Next steering group to organise follow-up First half 2005: Next Eutrophication workshop (to be further discussed in Steering Group)

13. The Steering Group of the Eutrophication Activity (Oct 2004): • DG Environment • Joint Research Centre • ECOSTAT Leaders • EEA • 2 member states (Fin and NL) • Assisted by a technical secretariat