Water Quality in Slovenia - Agencija RS za okolje

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W A T E R Q U A L I T Y I N S L O V E N I A
to tens of kilometres, with similar natural characteristics as well as similar impacts of human activity
(agriculture, industry, urbanisation). The groundwater body is a distinctive volume of groundwater in
one or more aquifers. In surface waters, 155 water bodies were determined in Slovenia, and 21 water
bodies in groundwater. In 2007, monitoring was established in all the above mentioned water bodies,
as required by the Water Framework Directive. A new monitoring approach, introduced by the Water
Framework Directive, should above all be emphasised. Programmes are based on the analyses of
pressures. These are data on the emission of substances into waters from point sources, data on land
use, surpluses of nitrogen, the use of phytopharmaceutical products etc. According to the analysis of
these data, the monitoring programme is problem oriented and involves predominantly problematic
water bodies. Other water bodies are less frequently involved in the programme. An essential novelty
of the monitoring is evaluation of the ecological status. The assessment of the ecological status is
based on biological quality elements (phytoplankton, phytobenthos and macrophytes, fish and
benthic invertebrate fauna) and on hydromorphological, chemical and physico-chemical elements
supporting the biological elements. The ecological status is divided into five quality classes. The
starting point of the assessment of the ecological status is measuring the alteration of the ecosystem’s
structure and functioning of the natural state, i.e. the state where there is no human activity impact
or it is insignificant.
Piran