Workshop on surface Water body delineation. Introduction

European Union Water Initiative plus
for Eastern Partnership
© iStockphoto.com/ansonsaw
Support of Water Policy Reforms
towards Integrated Water Resources Management
WORKSHOP ON
SURFACE WATER BODY
DELINEATION
(Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia)
Robert Konecny, Georg Wolfram, Alexander Zinke
Kyiv, 24 May 2018

AGENDA
2
Thursday 24/05/2018
9:00 Welcome and introduction RK
9:10 Brief overview of the national status of data availability national experts
10:00 Step-wise approach: from typology to RBMP GW
10:45 Coffee break
11:00 Practical exercise 1 GW
12:30 Lunch break
13:30 Ecological assessment and supporting elements GW + AZ
14:30 Coffee break
14:45 Practical exercise 2 (main focus: hydro-morphology) GW + AZ
16:00 Review of exercise results 1 +2 AZ
16:30 Conclusions RK + GW
17:00 Closure of the Workshop
Robert KONECNY (RK), Georg WOLFRAM (GW), Alexander ZINKE (AZ)

 1st day: BY, AM, GE, AZ; 2nd day: UA; MD not included
 Information from the EUWI countries to the UBA experts (data
availability, running projects, typology, pressures, resources);
 Presentations of UBA experts on the principles of SWB
delineation, with special focus on the tasks and deliverables
described in the tenders for SWB delineation;
 Practical exercises in sub-groups, with special focus on
typology evaluation, compliance checks and the importance of
significant pressure-response relationships
STRUCTURE OF THE WORKSHOP
3

 Feedback of the participants
 Organisation (coffee, lunch, dinner …)
 …
ORGANISATION
4

 provide a set of documents (guidelines, presentations) to the
participants of the workshop in order to facilitate the
implementation of contracts on SWB delineation;
 enable the contractors to learn from practical examples from
other river basins to perform the tasks of their own contracts
timely and in the most effective way;
 strengthen the contacts, relations and co-operation
between the experts of the countries and
the EUWI project team from UBA and IOW
OVERALL GOAL
5

Delineation of surface water bodies
in the following EUWI+ pilot basins:
 Belarus (Pripyat)
 Ukraine (Dnipro)
 Georgia (Alazani-Iori basin, Khrami-Debed basin)
 Armenia (Sevan River Basin District, Hrazdan River Basin
District)
 Azerbaijan (Kura upstream of the Mingachevir Dam)
TERMS OF REFERENCE
6

 Different countries
 Different river basins
 Partly the same types?
 Similar challanges
and comparable
problems as in all
EU countries
(data availability, time …)
PILOT BASINS
7

8

1. EU Documents
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/facts_figures/guidance_docs_en.htm
REQUIREMENTS …
9

2. EPIRB Documents
http://blacksea-riverbasins.net/en/downloads-library-search
REQUIREMENTS …
10

3. Tasks and deliverables defined in the tenders
SWB Identify and delineate SWB
Give each SWB a code and a name
Provide boundaries of delineated SWB in GIS format
Characterise all SWB by completing the template attached in Annex 2
Sub-catchments Characterise main sub-catchments (grouped SWB) + summary river basin
Summary text about the main river catchments  RBMP
Typology Compile types following System A + evaluate + revise
Summary text about types
Other Information Compile list of significant human pressures / support from IOWater
Summarize existing information about monitoring + ecol./chem. status
Summary of open issues and data gaps – to be addressed in future
Documentation Summary on applied methodologies and considered information
Agendas and minutes of all working meetings
Final report
REQUIREMENTS …
11

SEEK THE COMPROMISE BETWEEN …
12
Numerous (strict) requirements
Pragmatic approach

WHAT WE INTEND…
13
Support understanding
of the purpose of SWB
Plead for flexibility
(iterative approach)
Numerous (strict) requirements
Pragmatic approach

 WFD covers all waters independent of size and characteristics
 Key purpose of the WFD: protect, prevent deterioration or
improve the status of aquatic ecosystems
 The success of the WFD in achieving this purpose
will be mainly measured by the status of “water bodies” (SWB)
 SWB are therefore the units that will be used for reporting
and assessing compliance with the objectives.
 SWB are a tool, not an objective in itself
STARTING POINT
14

 WFD: ”Body of surface water” means a discrete and
significant element of surface water such as a lake, a
reservoir, a stream, river or canal, part of a stream, river or
canal, a transitional water or a stretch of coastal water.
 CIS Guidance No. 2: The “water body” should be a coherent
sub-unit in the river basin (district) to which the environmental
objectives of the directive must apply. Hence, the main
purpose of identifying “water bodies” is to enable
the status to be accurately described and
compared to environmental objectives.
STARTING POINT
15

 Obviously, the status of the SWB is a key descriptor
 If SWB do not permit an accurate description of the status of
aquatic ecosystems, it will not be possible to apply the
Directive’s objectives correctly
STARTING POINT
16

STARTING POINT
17

 At the same time, an endless sub-division of water bodies
should be avoided in order to reduce administrative burden
  option of aggregation of water bodies, in particular for
smaller SWB
STARTING POINT
18

 SWB are a tool
 SWB have to be based on certain criteria (status, pressures…)
 The definition of SWB has administrative (and financial)
consequences
STARTING POINT
19

CIS GUIDANCE ON SWB DELINEATION
20

CIS GUIDANCE ON SWB DELINEATION
21
Categories
Types
Physical features (Hydro-morphology)
Risk assessment / monitoring
Status, Pressures, Protected areas …

 Lakes
 Rivers
 (Coastal Waters)
 (Transitional Waters)
CATEGORIES
22
What about impounded rivers?
 part of the river SWB?
 separate SWB, but HMWB?
in the assessment treated as a river?
 separate SWB, but HMWB?
but “lake character”?
in the assessment treated as a river?

Example 1: River Nile / Lake Nasser
23
Lake Nasser (Egypt):
A = 5,250 km2
doubtless “lake character”
Should be 1 (or more) separate SWB
Should be defined as HMWB
Assessment following lake methods

Example 2: River Danube
24
Example Danube: chain of impoundments + 2 free flowing sections

Example 2: River Danube
25
Example Danube: chain of impoundments + 2 free flowing sections
# Impountments
and free flowing
sections are
separated
# Impountments
can be grouped
to 1 HMWB
# Assessment
follows river
methods

Example 3: Chain of small impountment
26
# Small impoundment with A = 0.2 km2
# no separate SWB, but part of the river
# define river section with several
small impoundments as 1 SWB

CATEGORIES
27
Riverine Transitional Lake

CATEGORIES
28
R T L
Low flow
High flow
R T L
Sediment load
High nutrient availability
Light availability
Nutrient limitation

THE ROLE OF SWB ON THE WAY
FROM TYPOLOGY AND RBMP
29
Step 2 Delineation of surface water bodies
Step 3 Ecological Classification Methods
Step 4 Ecological Monitoring
Step 5 River Basin Management Plan
Step 1 Typology of surface waters

What are types for?
Types …
… define groups of rivers and lakes with common reference conditions
… help to characterize and delineate surface water bodies (SWB)
… are the anchor of the ecological classification
FROM TYPOLOGY TO RBMP
30
Step 1
Typology of surface waters (System A)
Ecoregion Geology Catchment area (rivers) Depth (lakes) Altitude

How to achieve a national typology?
 System A defines types by ecoregions, catchment area (rivers), depth (lakes),
geology and altitude … good starting points, but rather strict at finer scales
 System B permits the use of additional factors and has usually a higher degree
of differentiation than System A
 Most EU countries use a combination of System A and B by performing a
regionalization (System A), as first step, and defining subsequently a proper,
fine-adjusted typology (System B)
No matter, which system is used – a validation by biology is an absolute
prerequisite!
 Step 1 – a priori abiotic typology (System A / B)
 Step 2 – biological check as a posteriori approach
 Step 3 – final definition of types according to the results of step 2
31

32

33
Evaluation of type-specific Ecological Classification Methods
Step 1
Step 2
Typology of surface waters (System A)
Step 3
Compliance check
• Reference conditions
• Boundaries setting procedure
• Sampling + taxonomy level
• Parameters
• 5 classes expresses as EQR
Significance check of
pressure-response relationship
• for all types
• for all biological quality elements
(start with the most sensitive one)
Types Pressures Ecological / chemical statusPhysical features

34
p=0.49 n.s.
• Revise typology
• Check/Improve pressure data
• Check/Improve biological data
(e.g. along whole pressure gradient)
• Check/Improve classification method
(reference, boundary setting …)

35
Evaluation of type-specific Ecological Classification Methods
Step 1
Step 2
Revised Typology of surface waters
Step 3
Compliance check
• revised Reference conditions
• revised Boundaries setting procedure
• Sampling + taxonomy level
• Parameters
• 5 classes expresses as EQR
Significance check of
pressure-response relationship
• for all types
• for all biological quality elements
(start with the most sensitive one)
Types Pressures Ecological / chemical statusPhysical features
other

36
p=0.007 **
Step 4 Ecological
Monitoring
Step 5 River Basin
Management
Plan
Check each type!

37
Step 2 Delineation of surface water bodies
Step 3 Ecological Classification Methods
Step 4 Ecological Monitoring
Step 5 River Basin Management Plan
Step 1 Typology of surface waters

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