Water Framework Directive (WFD)
Statement of water@leeds capability
The goal of the WFD is to improve the chemical and biological quality of water for improved ecological health of all surface water bodies. water@leeds possesses much of the expertise required to ensure compliance with the WFD, providing regulatory guidance and analytical capability. Particular areas of water@leeds strength are:
- Evaluation of diffuse pollution events including agricultural contaminants;
- Independent assessment of point source pollution;
- Analytical capability with skilled laboratory staff and a comprehensive array of equipment/techniques for assessment of DOC, nutrients, water colour, heavy metals/metals, organics/inorganics, microbial load etc. in water, sediment and soil;
- State-of-the-art laboratories such as the Sorby Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory which can be used to simulate pollution flow;
- New and novel analytical capability including ‘omics (particularly metabolomics) to determine ecological exposure to contaminants;
- Methodological development of monitoring regimes from source to sea (can be linked to sample analysis);
- Passive sampling for cost effective monitoring;
- Modelling capability for real-time water flow, quality, environmental exposure, etc. data;
- Development of new sensor technology to monitor chemical water quality e.g. water sensors using nanotechnology;
- Priority pollutant and emerging pollutant expertise;
- Fate and behaviour monitoring, assessment and modelling;
- Ecological assessment of ecosystem health using field-scale experiments and laboratory-scale simulations;
- Freshwater biota identification skills (family, genus, species);
- Invasive freshwater species monitoring and control;
- Environmental legal expertise for interpretation of WFD;
- Environmental economics, ecosystem service approaches and participatory involvement techniques for holistic approach.
Prepared by water@leeds December 2010
Read about the water@leeds NERC knowledge exchange fellow looking at the Water Framework Directive.
Read about the WFD Expert Forum that took place in Leeds in January 2012.
