Reporting Water Framework Directive 2010: syntheses on the ecological status of surface water bodies by WFD basin

These summary datasets provide information on the ecological status of each body of surface water:

• EUSurfaceWaterBodyCode: European Water Body Code,
• SWB_MS_CD: National code of the body of water,
• SWB_NAME: Name of the water body,
• TargetStatusOrPotential: Objective of good condition or good potential,
• ValueEcologicalStatusOrPotential: Value of ecological status,
  Confidence: Level of confidence in the value of ecological status,
• CommentConfidence: Commentary on the level of confidence,
• ValueQE1_1[...] ValueQE3_4: Quality element of the ecological state,
• EcologicalExemptionComment: Comment related to an eventual exemption from the ecological state.

The ecological status of a body of surface water results from an assessment of the structure and functioning of the aquatic ecosystems associated with that body of water. It is determined using quality elements: biological (plant and animal species), hydromorphological and physico-chemical, assessed by indicators (e.g. invertebrate indices or in-stream fish). For each type of water body (e.g.: small mountain streams, shallow lowland lakes, muddy coasts, etc., it is characterised by a deviation from the ‘reference conditions’ of this type, which is designated by one of the following five classes: very good, good, medium, mediocre and bad. The reference conditions for a type of water body are those conditions that are representative of a surface water of that type, with little or no influence from human activity.