title: Integrating long-term water and sediment pollution data, in assessing chemical status within the European Water Framework Directive.
abstract: The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes a framework for the protection and improvement of estuarine (transitional) and coastal waters, attempting to achieve good water status by 2015; this includes, within the assessment, biological and chemical elements. The European Commission has proposed a list of priority dangerous substances (including metals such as Cd, Hg, Ni and Pb), with the corresponding list of environmental quality standards (EQS), to assess chemical status, but only for waters. In this contribution, a long-term (1995-2007) dataset of transitional and coastal water and sediment trace elements concentrations, from the Basque Country (northern Spain), has been used to investigate the response of these systems to water treatment programmes. Moreover, the approach proposed in the WFD, for assessing water chemical status (the 'one out, all out' approach), is compared with the integration of water and sediment data, into a unique assessment. For this exercise, background levels are used as reference conditions, identifying the boundary between high and good chemical status. EQS are used as the boundary between good and moderate chemical status. This contribution reveals that the first approach can lead to misclassification, with the second approach representing the pattern shown by the long-term data trends. Finally, the management implications, using each approach are discussed.
authors.affiliation: AZTI-Tecnalia Foundation, Marine Research Division, Herrera Kaia, Portualdea, s/n, 20110 Pasaia, Spain. itueros@azti.es
authors.forename: Itziar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tueros
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borja
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Larreta
authors.forename: J Germán
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Victoriano
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valencia
authors.forename: Esmeralda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Millán
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005060:Europe; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical