Classifying ecological status under the European Water Framework Directive: the need for monitoring to account for natural variability

By now, all European freshwater and coastal marine ecologists should be familiar with the European Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, which is commonly referred to as the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The purpose of the directive is to establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. The directive aims to provide the mechanisms to prevent further deterioration, and it protects and enhances the status of aquatic ecosystems and, with regard to their water needs, of terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands directly depending on aquatic ecosystems. There is an environmental objective that, by the year 2015, all surface and groundwaters in Europe will achieve a classification defined as good ecological status. The WFD provides for a comprehensive framework of measures to safeguard European water resources, and came about because of the general failure of policies across Europe to prevent a steady decline in water quality. It will supersede and amalgamate a number of existing, and more narrowly focused, directives enacted in response to the environmental pressures on aquatic environments that have been recognized widely since the 1970s. The WFD is about preserving and, where necessary, improving the quality of surface waters and groundwaters by implementing ‘river basin management plans’, designed to establish an integrated approach to catchment management. ‘Competent Authorities’ will apply the rules of the