Sweden, lake monitoring

Monitoring in the aqnatic systems of Sweden has been going on for abont eight decades, if one considers the first investigative monitoring efforts concerning water chemistry, macrophytes and phytoplankton. The aims of these early studies were to characterise different types of lake and to investigate relationships between water chemistry and species composition of aquatic ecosystems. Even older data are available for fish captures and distribution of species, collected in the interest of food production and for commercial purposes. 

The design of a monitoring programme is usually a compromise between different demands and a limited budget in Sweden, as in any other country. The presentation below compiles the demands on the Swedish monitoring system, with focus on lakes. 

This need for reporting according to the Water Framework Directive puts additional demands on monitoring beyond those previously stated. For instance, the monitoring must be performed in different lake types also, the monitoring must preferably be done by intercalibrated quality elements. In Sweden we have adjusted our aquatic monitoring system to be in accordance with the obligations of the Water Framework Directive. The outcome of this revision is presented in Section 2.1.6. 

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