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The maps shows the annual total water abstraction as a percentage of available long-term freshwater resources 2002–2012 (left) and average trend 2007–2012 compared to 2002–2006 (right)
The WISE WFD database contains data from the 1st and 2nd River Basin Management Plans reported by EU Members States according to article 13 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The database includes information about surface water bodies (number and size, water body category, ecological status or potential, chemical status, significant pressures and impacts) and about groundwater bodies (number and size, quantitative status, chemical status, significant pressures and impacts). The information is presented by country, river basin district (RBD) and river basin district sub-unit (where applicable).
The WFD requires the identification of significant pressures from point sources of pollution, diffuse sources of pollution, modifications of flow regimes through abstractions or regulation and morphological alterations, as well as any other pressures. ‘Significant’ means that the pressure contributes to an impact that may result in failing to meet the WFD objectives of not having at least good status. In some cases, the pressure from several drivers, e.g. water abstraction from agriculture and households, may in combination be significant. Further dashboards are available below.
The Water Framework Directive ‘water environment’ includes rivers, lakes, transitional waters, groundwater and coastal waters out to 1 nautical mile (12 nautical miles for chemical status, i.e. for territorial waters). These waters are divided into units called water bodies. Member States have in the river basin districts delineated water bodies and reported different data to characterize water bodies such as length or area, category (groundwater, rivers, lakes, transitional, coastal waters), national type and information if a surface water body is designated as heavily modified or artificial. More dashboards are available below the main dashboard.
Ecological status is determined for rivers, lakes, and transitional and coastal waters based on biological quality elements (phytoplankton, macrophytes, phytobenthos, benthic invertebrate fauna and fish) and supporting physico-chemical (nutrients, oxygen condition, temperature, transparency, salinity and river basin specific pollutants (RBSPs) and hydromorphological quality elements. The WFD specifies which elements are to be assessed for each water category and requires that biological and supporting quality elements achieve at least good status. The dashboards provide overview of the different results related to ecological status of quality elements. Further dashboards are available below.
Ecological status is an assessment of the quality of the structure and functioning of surface water ecosystems. It shows the influence of pressures (e.g. pollution and habitat degradation) on the identified quality elements. Ecological status is determined for each of the surface water bodies of rivers, lakes, transitional waters and coastal waters, based on biological quality elements and supported by physico-chemical and hydromorphological quality elements. The overall ecological status classification for a water body is determined, according to the ‘one out, all out’ principle, by the element with the worst status out of all the biological and supporting quality elements. More dashboards are available below the main dashboard.
For surface waters, good chemical status means that no concentrations of priority substances exceed the relevant EQS established in the Environmental Quality Standards Directive 2008/105/EC (as amended by the Priority Substances Directive 2013/39/EU). EQS aim to protect the most sensitive species from direct toxicity, including predators and humans via secondary poisoning. A smaller group of priority hazardous substances were identified in the Priority Substances Directive as uPBT (ubiquitous (present, appearing or found everywhere), persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic). The uPBTs are mercury, brominated diphenyl ethers (pBDE), tributyltin and certain polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Click on <..> to see different dashboards, more dashboards are available below the main dashboard.
The WFD requires Member States to designate separate groundwater bodies and ensure that each one achieves 'good chemical and quantitative status'. To meet the aim of good chemical status, hazardous substances should be prevented from entering groundwater, and the entry of all other pollutants (e.g. nitrates) should be limited. Good quantitative status can be achieved by ensuring that the available groundwater resource is not reduced by the long-term annual average rate of abstraction. In addition, impacts on surface water linked with groundwater or groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems should be avoided, as should saline intrusions. Further dashboards are available below.
Groundwater bodies failing to achieve good status, per River Basin District. RBMP: River Basin Management Plan.
Bathing water sites where quality improved from poor in 2016 to sufficient, good or excellent in 2017; and bathing water sites where quality deteriorated from excellent, sufficient or good in 2016 to poor in 2017.
The illustration shows the distribution of marine litter reported by the public and where they were found
This map illustrates the overall pressures to water from the aggregated releases of the eight heavy metals. Values (in kilograms) of the individual releases are first multiplied by a respective ‘eco-toxicity factor’, sourced from the USEtox model. Results are then aggregated, first by facility and then illustrated spatially using a standard heat map tool.
The combined Water and Wetness product is a thematic product showing the occurrence of water and wet surfaces over the period from 2009 to 2018. These layers are based on multi-temporal and multi-seasonal optical high-resolution satellite imagery. In addition, these layers are also based on radar information (Sentinel-1 data) with a geometric resolution of 10m on a pan-European basis. A multitude of optical and SAR imagery is used, covering a prolonged time series of 7 years, which aim at capturing the intra-annual dynamics as much as possible within a given area and lead to one image composite per season (each season covered by 3 months) and year during the observation period.
The imperviousness products capture the percentage and change of soil sealing. Sealed/Impervious areas are characterized by the substitution of the original (semi-) natural land cover or water surface with an artificial, often impervious cover. These artificial surfaces are usually maintained over long periods of time. The imperviousness HRL captures the spatial distribution of artificially sealed areas, including the level of sealing of the soil per area unit. The level of sealed soil (imperviousness degree 1-100%) is produced using a semi-automated classification, based on calibrated NDVI. Imperviousness data is available for the reference years 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018, and contains two types of products: 1. Status layers Imperviousness Density (IMD) The percentage of sealed area is mapped for each status layer for any of the 5 reference years (e.g. degree of Imperviousness 2012). The status layers are available in 10m spatial resolution (2018), 20m spatial resolution (2006-2015), and as aggregated 100m products. Impervious Built-up (IBU) This product shows built-up areas, the part of the sealed surfaces where buildings can be found. Built-up areas are a sub-group of the sealed areas. It refers to areas where above-ground building constructions can be found. In contrast to the Imperviousness characterized by a continuous range of imperviousness measurements, built-up in the HRL 2018 is a binary product, expressed as built-up or non-built-up areas. This product is new for the 2018 mapping campaign and is available in 10 meter resolution, as well as a 100 meter aggregated version called Share of Built-up (SBU) 2. Change layers Two types of change products are available for each of the 3-year periods between the 5 reference years (2006-2009, 2009-2012, 2012-2015, 2015-2018), and in addition, for the period 2006-2012 (that is in line with the 6-year period between two Corine Land Cover products): a) A simple layer mapping the percentage of sealing increase or decrease for those pixels that show real sealing change in the period covered. This product is available in 20m and 100m pixel size. b) A classified change product that maps the most relevant categories of sealing change (unchanged no sealing, new cover, loss of cover, unchanged sealed, increased sealing, decreased sealing). This product is available in 20m pixel size only.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/find/global or scan the QR code.
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