Report on Harmonisation of freshwater biological methods

Background and purpose of the document1. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires (Annex V 1.3.6) that standardsmethods are used for the monitoring of water quality elements: ‘Methods used for themonitoring of type parameters shall conform to the international standards listedbelow or such other national or international standards which will ensure theprovision of data of an equivalent scientific quality and comparability’.2. In the context of the WFD Common Implementation Strategy (CIS)Intercalibration Working Group (WG), a common issue raised by lake and riverexperts was the lack of comparability of national biological assessment systems due todifferent sampling and analytical procedures, and use of different metrics for theassessment of the degree of impact due to the same pressure. This resulted in a strongrecommendation from these networks of experts for the harmonisation of thesemethodologies and the possible identification of common metrics.3. Thus, in the workshop of the WFD-CIS Intercalibration WG, in March 2003 at theJRC, Ispra, it was decided to initiate a task on the review of the needs forharmonisation of the freshwater biological methods, under the WFD-CIS WG 2AECOSTAT. The first contacts and presentation of this activity was at the meeting ofthe WG 2A in October 2003 at the JRC, Ispra.4. The report from this task will support the Geographic Intercalibration Groups(GIGs) in the intercalibration exercise by providing a concise overview of theavailable methods to be considered as potential candidates for common metrics. Thiscan be applied for the harmonised assessment of the water bodies belonging to theintercalibration network. Furthermore, it identifies the need for the development ofnew methods or the further harmonisation and standardisation of existing methodsand proposes a procedure to link WFD relevant groups with Comité Européen deNormalisation (CEN) working group elaborating biological and ecological assessmentmethods.5. The overall objectives of this task are 1) to make an overview and comparison ofthe national biological methods currently in use in EU countries; 2) to evaluate theirapplicability in the assessment of the ecological quality of inland surface waters (lakesand rivers) as required by the WFD; 3) to evaluate their suitability for use as common5