Research project Will European water legislation result in better water quality?
Will European water legislation result in better water quality? In this project we analyse current indicators and measures to reduce chemical pollution.
The project analyses scientific basis for indicators and measures suggested under European chemical and water related directives. It also assesses possibilities to enhance coherence and linkages in EU legislation and use of soft-law instruments to implement scientifically sound management processes.
Project description
A number of regulations, directives and international conventions aim to protect European waters from harmful effects of chemical pollution. At the core of these legal/policy instruments are assessments of chemical and ecological status based on monitoring data, and development of management plans describing measures necessary to achieve the objective of good status. The relevance of current indicators is questioned by the scientific community, lack of legal coherence hinders effective regulation of prioritized substances from source to sea, and the efficiency of proposed measures is unknown.
In this interdisciplinary project, we will analyse processes and methodologies applied for selection and regulation of indicator substances under European water-related legal acts to evaluate the scientific basis for the selection. Coherence and linkages between water-related legal instruments and EU legislation addressing sources of chemical pollution will be described and opportunities to use policy and/or soft law instruments to strengthen coherence and update water quality assessment methodologies explored.
Efficiency of proposed measures will be studied by surveying what information is available and what information is needed to evaluate possible emission reductions, and we will study the connection between implementation of measures and observed concentration reductions of targeted chemicals. Based on this, we will recommend measures to prioritize in future management plans.
Project members
Project managers
Emma Undeman
Associate Professor
Members
Anna Sobek
Professor
Marlene Ågerstrand
Associate Professor
