Monitoring Surface Waters (WFD)

According to Article 8 of the EC Water Framework Directive, a coherent and comprehensive overview of the status of water bodies is to be achieved in which regular surveys are carried out by means of monitoring programmes.For this purpose, monitoring programmes have been developed in accordance with the EC Water Framework Directive in Lower Saxony/Bremen in the Elbe, Weser, Ems and Rhine river basins:Overview monitoring of the overall status:Detection of long-term trends caused by natural conditions or extensive human activities. Operational monitoring of polluted waters: documentation of changes in water bodies that may not meet the environmental objectives and for which appropriate programmes of measures are to be drawn up. It is used to monitor regional targets for individual water bodies, groups of water bodies or processing areas.