A core concept of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is that the condition of biological communities is used to assess the ecological quality of surface waters. To do this it is necessary to develop ecological classification systems that are based on robust responses of biological communities to environmental pressures.

These areas of work present considerable technical challenges and to support this SEPA has established a WFD ecology team to act as a focus for the initiatives taking place within the broader SEPA ecology management group. The WFD ecology team will also provide the link to and collaborate with external partners.



Key WFD Ecology Objectives

In relation to the Directive, SEPA’s ecology function will:

• co-ordinate, review and support the development of ecological methods for the implementation of the Directive
  
  
• provide expert scientific advice, information and interpretation on ecological issues related to new duties
  
  
• contribute to the development and management of an adequate and appropriate monitoring network
  
  
• participate in and contribute to various UK and European technical groups with responsibilities for achieving common understanding of the implications of the WFD
  
  
• coordinate the provision of ecological data for UK projects and European initiatives, such as intercalibration
  
  
• coordinate the provision and interpretation of ecological data for waterbody characterisation and risk assessment
  
  
  
  

Ecology WFD Tasks and Activities

SEPA’s ecology function is leading or has a significant role in the following national and international tasks associated with the implementation of the Directive:

1.

Chairing the UKTAG Rivers Task Team & Membership of the UKTAG Lakes Task Team The River and Lake Task Teams are responsible for delivering a series of outputs across the UK required to support implementation of the Directive. These include developing: freshwater typology systems; type specific reference conditions; and freshwater ecological classification systems.

2.

Classification Tool Development Programme Ecological assessments of water body status lie at the heart of the Directive. SEPA’s ecology staff are presently involved in the following classification tool development projects to support this requirement: Rivers Diatoms - DARES River Plants (Macrophytes) - LEAFPACS Macro-invertebrates (RIVPACS) Macro-invertebrates - Centre for Intelligent Environmental Systems (CIES) (applications of artificial intelligence techniques to biological monitoring) Fish (FAME) Morphology developments, including River Habitat Survey (further details of morphology initiatives can be found in the morphology section GEO River Habitat Survey Canals Lochs Phytoplankton Diatoms DARES Loch Plants- Macrophytes (LEAFPACS) Macro-invertebrates Littoral Habitats Littoral Habitats - Acidification Model Profundal Habitats Chironomid Pupal Exuviae System Loch Habitat Survey

In addition to project management and scientific input to these projects SEPA ecologists have conducted extensive sampling programmes on rivers and lochs to provide the necessary data for these projects. For example, SEPA staff have surveyed in excess of 120 lochs between 2002 and 2005, specifically to support WFD development.

Many of these projects are being taken forward via SNIFFER (Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum For Environmental Research) and further details of these are available on the SNIFFER website.



Monitoring

Work is being undertaking, through the classification tool development projects, to establish the frequencies of monitoring required to give reliable water body classifications.



Intercalibration

In order to achieve a consistent implementation of the WFD across the EU, the EC has established an intercalibration process which will ensure that a common understanding of ‘high’ and ‘good’ status is used in making water body status assessments. This work is being taken forward through a number of Geographical Intercalibration Groups (GIGS) and SEPA has lead or key role in the following freshwater GIGS - Central & Baltic, Northern, and Atlantic.

In addition to these international roles SEPA has a lead role in co-ordinating intercalibration work across the UK, which inputs to this process across Europe.

Key to the intercalibration process is the determination of where the boundaries between the various status classes should lie and SEPA ecologists have been heavily involved in taking forward this issue, both at a UK and European level.



Characterisation

The characterisation process required SEPA for the first time to produce an initial assessment on the impact of all significant pressures acting on the water environment. As part of this process ecology staff undertook a series of ecological and morphological assessments of water bodies. Staff will also be involved in refining these initial assessments through the further characterisation work that is being undertaken to support production of the Significant Water Management Issues report, which will be a precursor to the first Scottish river basin plans.



Wetlands

The WEWS requires SEPA to undertake a characterisation of wetlands that are directly dependent on water bodies. In order to support this activity, it has been agreed that an inventory of Scottish wetlands should be developed and the ecology function is leading this work with a range of external partners.



Heavily Modified and Artificial Waterbodies (HMWB and AWB)

Where the physical structure of water bodies have been significantly modified for socio-economic benefits, and costs associated with their mitigation are disproportionate to the benefits that would arise from the mitigation, the Directive allows a less stringent set of objectives to be set for these water-bodies through them being designated as Heavily Modified Water Bodies (HMWB). Ecology staff have been responsible for developing the draft list of HMWBs in Scotland.



Environmental Quality Standards

Environmental quality standards that will support the delivery of individual water body objectives are being developed for a series of water quality, flow and morphology parameters.



Business Planning

The WFD will radically alter the approach SEPA takes to monitoring Scottish fresh waters, and the ecology function has played a lead role in developing the plans for this new work.



Provision of Regulatory Advice

As the WFD regulatory regimes start to operate, there will be an increasing role for SEPA ecologists to provide advice to regulatory staff to help ensure that objectives are met. This role will continue to evolve as our understanding of the relationships between the biology and environmental drivers improves.