European methods for WFD

European methods for WFD

Type

Hydromorphological assessment methods

Summary

In this section we overview the assessment methods which are commonly used and/or have been formally approved for the implementation of the WFD in each EU country. We reviewed 21 methods in total (Figure 1).

Given that parts of these methods are only published in the national language, this review is mainly limited to those methods for which some information in English was available (papers, English summaries, etc.).

Figure 1. Sum of analyzed methods (i.e. implemented by EU coutries for the WFD) for each of the 5 categories of assessment methods. (*) The hydrological regime alteration assessment is provided only by the IARI (Italy), which deeply differs from others categories of assessment methods.

The main gap in methods implemented by EU countries for the WFD is the lack of consideration of physical processes (i.e. cause-effect of alterations), when physical habitat assessment is used alone. The 5 identified categories of methods need to be considered as part of an overall hydromorphological assessment.