Dashboard (Tableau)

Chemical status of surface water bodies

Dashboard (Tableau)

Prod-ID: DAS-42-en

Published 03 Jul 2018

1 min read

Topics: Water and marine environment

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.

More information

Caution is advised when comparing Member States and when comparing the first and second RBMPs, as the results are affected by the methods Member States have used to collect data and often cannot be compared directly. The major contribution to variability seems to arise from the approach taken to monitoring, modelling and extrapolating results and from the choice of monitoring matrix: water, sediment or biota (e.g. fish). Some countries extrapolated failure to meet the standard at monitoring sites to all water bodies, while others reported failure only where failure was confirmed. Typically, measurements of mercury in biota extrapolated to all similar water bodies lead to widespread failure to meet the EQS.

In addition, further information is provided in a Guide to dashboards on chemical status; in chapter 3 of the EEA report European waters – assessment of status and pressures 2018, and section 2.5 Chemical status and exemptions of the WFD 2016 reporting guidance.

Further information on surface water ecological status or potential is available in following dashboards:

Chemical status - tables overview table ; by category
Chemical status - charts (with or without uPBTs) by category ; country comparison ; by country and category
Chemical status - maps (with or without uPBTs) by country ; by RBD ; by country and RBD

Chemical status assessment confidence overview table ; charts by category ; country comparison ; by country and category

Priority substances table priority substances by country ; overview table ; causing failure - improving chemical status

River basin specific pollutants (RBSP) - tables table RBSPs by country ; overview table ; other RBSPs ; overview graph

Chemical status in the 2nd and 1st RBMPs - charts by category country comparison ; by country and category

Chemical status in 2015 overview table, and expected achievement year of good status overview table
Chemical exemption type: overview table (summary); overview table (WFD countries); overview graph
Chemical exemptions and pressures; overview of exemptions (summary); overview graph; overview table (WFD countries); overview table (WFD countries)

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