Hydromorphological monitoring

Hydromorphological monitoring generally relies on series of elements such as assessment of quantity and dynamics of flow, connections to groundwater, continuity, channel patterns, width/depth variations, substrate conditions, structure and condition of the riparian zone in the case of rivers, residence time, lake depth variation, tidal flow regime, substrate condition and structure and condition of the intertidal zone, freshwater flow regime and direction and speed of dominant currents for transition/coastal waters. 

The implementation of the European Union s Water Framework Directive will require all Member States to design water monitoring programmes for the measurement of a range of ecological, hydromorphological, physico-chemical and chemical water quality elements (European Commission, 2000). This has increased the amount of monitoring... 

Macroinvertebrates have been used as indicators for the quality of rivers for many decades in Europe and elsewhere (Mancini, 2006). Historically, the emphasis of macroinvetebrate assessment methods has been on the effects of organic pollution, but it is clear that this quality element can also be used effectively for detecting the effects of other pressures, including hydromorphological alterations, acidification and perhaps also toxic substances. The history, principal approaches and available methods for river monitoring and assessment based on macroinvertebrates in the context of the WFD were recently reviewed extensively by De Pauw et al. (2006), and will not be further discussed here. 

In relation to the sampling frequency, quality elements will be measured every year until a water body is classified with a frequency similar to the frequency of surveillance monitoring. Therefore, for the biological quality elements, sampling frequency will be twice a year for the hydromorphological quality elements, the sampling frequency will be twice a year as well and for the physical-chemical quality elements, sampling frequency will be monthly. 

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