text:
The new design is more compact and user friendly, easily switching between different pollutants for a given area. Four data viewers have been updated:
As part of the package, there is also an updated and improved Geographic Information System (GIS) reference layer for river basin districts reporting under the Water Framework Directive. This can be downloaded by other organisations working in this area.
The maps are based on data reported by the EU Member States and EEA member countries. Since this latest update, all interactive maps in the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) have now been updated to the improved format.
Hazardous substances are emitted to fresh and marine waters through a range of pathways and from a variety of sources, including industry, agriculture, transport, mining and waste disposal, as well as from our own homes. Hazardous substances found in fresh and marine waters and associated sediment and biota include a wide range of industrial and household chemicals, metals, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Some substances, for example tributyltin (TBT), persist in aquatic environments long after they have been phased out.
Hazardous substances can have detrimental effects on aquatic biota. Substances with endocrine-disrupting properties, for example, can impair reproduction in fish and shellfish, while the effects of organochlorines on marine life are well documented. Such impacts diminish the services provided by aquatic ecosystems, including the provision of food.
Humans can be exposed to hazardous substances in water, through ingesting contaminated drinking water and consuming contaminated freshwater fish and seafood. Some metals have been found in seafood above regulatory levels, whilst levels of banned substances such as DDT can also be high.
Well-established legislation within Europe has led to positive outcomes including a reduction in emissions of metals to air and water. Legislation implemented more recently, including the Water Framework Directive and REACH (Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) will play a key role in addressing hazardous substances in water.
For some pollutants, awareness of potential effects has only emerged recently and scientific understanding may still be incomplete. These 'emerging pollutants' include substances that have existed for some time, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, but also relatively new ones such as nanomaterials. Policy makers need more information on the levels and effects of these emerging pollutants. Better understanding is needed too, with regard to the effects of chemical mixtures which are found in the more polluted water bodies of Europe.
In the absence of appropriately strong measures, climate change is likely to adversely affect chemical water quality over the coming decades. More intense rainfall, for example, is predicted to increase the flushing of hazardous substances from both urban and agricultural land.
The report concludes that to reduce hazardous substances in water, a more sustainable production and use of chemicals should be applied both in Europe and beyond. This global approach would not only benefit Europe's environment but also reduce detrimental effects arising in other parts of the world, because a growing proportion of goods consumed within Europe are produced outside its borders. Adopting sustainable green chemistry techniques can also play an important role, although there is currently no comprehensive EU legislation in this area.
Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "I am glad to see that the quality of Europe's bathing waters remains high, although there is room for improvement. Clean water is a priceless resource, and we should not take it for granted. I would encourage Member States to ensure we turn the slight decline we experiencing last year into an upward trend."
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, said: "Clean water for swimming is very important for EU citizens, and this information will allow them to demand the highest quality water in lakes, rivers and beaches. Public participation is essential for the continued monitoring of Europe's bathing water, especially as the effects of climate change become more visible."
The report provides a comprehensive overview of the quality of bathing water in EU Member States throughout the 2010 bathing season, so swimmers can find areas where water quality is expected to be good during 2011. It also shows trends in bathing water quality since 1990.
The analysis brings together data from more than 21,000 designated bathing waters across Europe, approximately 70% of them coastal sites and the rest inland bathing waters. Sites are classified as compliant with mandatory values, compliant with the more stringent guide values, or non-compliant.
In 2010, 92.1% of Europe's coastal bathing waters and 90.2% of inland bathing waters met the minimum quality standards. Only 1.2% of coastal bathing water and 2.8% of inland sites were non-compliant. The remainder are unclassified due to insufficient data.
In general, coastal bathing water quality deteriorated between 2009 and 2010 – the number of bathing water bodies meeting the mandatory values fell by 3.5%, while those meeting guide values fell by 9.5%.
Inland water quality has also dropped. The number of rivers and lakes achieving the guide values fell by 10.2%, although compliance with the mandatory values was almost stationary. Rivers were particularly problematic, with only 25% of river bathing waters achieving guide values.
Bathing water in Europe needs to comply with standards set in the Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) adopted in 2006, which updates and simplifies previous legislation. The directive was to be transposed into the national law by March 2008, although Member States have until December 2014 to implement it. During the 2010 bathing season 20 Member States monitored and reported bathing water quality according to the new provisions.
European citizens can find out about the water quality at their favourite swimming spot by checking the Water Information System for Europe (WISE). The site allows users to download data and check interactive maps, from the European level down to the individual monitoring station level. People can also report the state of their local water using the Eye on Earth website.
Europe hosts several million kilometres of rivers and streams and more than a million lakes. Each body of water has its own characteristics and specific environmental problems. As highlighted by the theme of this year's World Water Day, water is also the life elixir of our cities. It keeps the 'urban metabolism' running like for every other ecosystem or organism. Good water management is indispensable for cities as both too little and too much water and pollution can put entire urban systems at risk.
In the past, with growing populations and increasing demand for water, Europe's larger cities have generally relied on transporting water from surrounding regions. Now Europe needs to tackle its demand for water including the efficiency of water use.
WISE, which was made publicly available for the first time on 22 March 2007, brings together all the information collected from Member States at EU level and on surface and ground water, including data on bathing waters.
The new version of the web portal offers easy access to water statistics compiled by Eurostat and model-based services developed by Joint Research Centre (JRC) in addition to the water policy website maintained by DG Environment and the Water Data Centre maintained by the EEA. Interactive maps also provide a user-friendly visualisation of the status of water bodies as reported under the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
The key EU legislation on water, the Water Framework Directive, establishes a broad management approach based on river basin districts. River Basin Management Plans include Programme of Measures to achieve 'good status' in 2015, aimed by the Directive.
]]>Worryingly, poor water quality, water scarcity and physical modifications might prevent a substantial proportion of European water bodies from achieving 'good status' by 2015.
Pollution from agriculture remains a major cause of poor water quality in many parts of Europe. Nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from fertilisers, pesticides, pathogenic micro-organisms excreted by livestock, and organic pollutants from manure are washed to waterways, primarily via diffuse pathways.
The urban environment is another key contributor to the freshwater pollution observed across Europe. A range of pollutants are generated in the wider urban environment, including industrial and household chemicals, metals, pharmaceutical products, nutrients, pesticides and pathogenic micro-organisms.
Excessive nutrient levels in water bodies cause proliferation of algal blooms and result in widespread loss of aquatic life. Moreover, chemicals with endocrine‑disrupting properties have been shown to trigger feminising effects in male fish, potentially affecting their fertility. Pesticides and metals can be toxic to aquatic life, while concern is growing about the effects of chemical mixtures found in Europe's more polluted waters. Much of the pollutant load in freshwaters is ultimately discharged to coastal waters with the potential to impact the marine environment. Poor water quality is also a potential threat to public health through various exposure routes.
Water scarcity occurs in many areas of Europe, particularly in the south where limited water resources combine with high demand. Over-abstraction and dry periods frequently result in reduced river flows, lower lake and groundwater levels and the drying-up of wetlands, with detrimental impacts on freshwater ecosystems. Excessive abstraction from any one of these types of water body can impact one or more of the others. For example, rivers, lakes and wetlands may all be strongly dependent on groundwater, especially in the summer when it typically provides critical base-flow.
Over-abstraction can also worsen water quality because there is less water to dilute pollutant discharges, while over-abstraction of aquifers in coastal areas often results in salt-water intrusion, diminishing the quality of groundwater.
Over the past 150 years, Europe's freshwaters have been affected by a variety of major modifications. Dams, weirs and sluices have reduced connectivity, rivers have been straightened and canalised, and infrastructure development has disconnected watercourses from floodplains. Such structures and activities have altered many European water bodies, sometimes leaving little space for natural habitats, obstructing species migration, disconnecting rivers from wetlands and changing the water flow.
Cost-effective measures exist to tackle agricultural pollution. Countries must implement them through the WFD, as well as complying fully with the Nitrates Directive. The forthcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy provides an opportunity to further strengthen water protection.
The EU Urban Wastewater Directive (UWWTD) is a vital and successful piece of legislation and Member States need to comply with it fully. It should be complemented by increased control of pollutants at source, reducing treatment needs and thereby cutting energy use. Full-cost pricing for wastewater services will help incentivise controls at source.
In many European cities there is a need to tackle storm overflows, which can discharge a range of pollutants causing rapid depletion of oxygen levels in receiving water. There are already some examples of good practice in Europe, such as the retention of overflows in storage ponds during heavy rainfall, which are subsequently pumped back to the system for treatment.
Europe's water use cannot increase endlessly. Demand must be reduced and policies are needed to achieve this. Measures could include economic instruments; water loss controls; water-reuse and recycling; increased efficiency in domestic, agricultural and industrial water use; and water-saving campaigns supported by public education programmes.
Flood management should shift from its current focus on hard-engineered defence systems to natural measures based more on slowing and storing water in floodplains and groundwater aquifers, and providing adequate space for rivers. The environmental impacts of water engineering projects such as dams and navigation infrastuctures should also be minimised.
Europe has strong water legislation in place. The challenge is now to attain full implementation across Europe. River basin plans for Europe's 110 river basin districts will be a key tool for achieving the objective of 'good status' for European waters by 2015.
]]>Nitrogen concentrations for monitoring points located at the mouths of the two largest Polish rivers (Vistula and Odra) have remained stable over the last three years and much lower than at the end of the 1990s when there was a simultaneous drop in average flows.
Polish lakes are mostly eutrophic reservoirs. Around half of them are characterised by adverse morphometric and hydrographic features and geomorphological conditions favouring the natural process of lake ageing. This means that a eutrophic state is the natural state for many Polish lakes. In total, 98 of the 208 lakes monitored in 2007-2008 were assessed as good or very good.
Analysis of the data for the nine reference lakes examined in 1999-2008 indicates that the essential parameters for eutrophication (concentration of phosphorus and total nitrogen, concentration of chlorophyl "a" and water transparency) remained stable, although they varied from year to year.
Eutrophication in flowing waters was assessed based on data from 2004-2007. It shows that eutrophication affects about 62 % of watercourses (eutrophication was found in 2 016 out of 3 268 monitoring points used for the assessment). In lakes, this phenomenon occurs in 268 of the 432 lakes examined.
An examination of groundwater quality made at monitoring stations of the national groundwater quality monitoring network in 2007 shows that the chemical status of groundwater (classes I, II, III) was good at around 80 % of the stations examined, while 20 % had poor chemical status (classes IV and V).
Results of groundwater quality examination at monitoring stations of the national groundwater quality monitoring network as part of operational and surveillance monitoring in 2007 |
Groundwater |
Σ Monitoring stations |
Groundwater chemical status (% of stations ) |
Quality class I |
Quality class II |
Quality class III |
Quality class IV |
Quality class V |
Unconfined |
441 |
10.20 % |
42.63 % |
25.62 % |
18.14 % |
3.40 % |
Confined |
566 |
7.77 % |
53.71 % |
21.38 % |
13.96 % |
3.18 % |
Total |
1007 |
8.84 % |
48.86 % |
23.24 % |
15.79 % |
3.28 % |
The chemical status of groundwater bodies was assessed based on examinations carried out at monitoring points. These indicated that, of the 161 ground water bodies selected across the country, only 11 ground water bodies (9.5% of the total area) had a poor chemical status.
Fig. 5: Assessment of the chemical status of groundwater bodies (Source: GIOŚ/PMŚ)
At the majority of the monitoring points of the national groundwater monitoring network nitrate concentrations did not exceed the threshold value of 50 mg/dm3. Moreover, nitrate concentrations were low (below 25 mg/dm3) at about 95 % of the stations.
River monitoring: http://www.gios.gov.pl/artykuly/151/Badania-i-ocena-stanu-rzek
Lake monitoring: http://www.gios.gov.pl/artykuly/150/Badania-i-ocena-stanu-jezior
Groundwater monitoring: http://www.pgi.gov.pl/test2/monbada2006/index.php
In 1999, the Government of Luxembourg opted for a comprehensive water management policy, designed to consolidate the various aspects of the water economy and create a tool for integrated water management. The Water Management Administration, which reports to the Minister for the Interior, was created in 2004, amalgamating the various units responsible for water protection and management that had previously operated within other administrations.
A new Water Act has been implemented to consolidate water legislation and transpose the EU Water Framework Directive and Floods Directive into national law. As of 1 January 2010, the law seeks to harmonise the structure of water pricing and introduces the principle of full cost recovery for drinking water supply and urban sewage treatment. In addition to water supply and sanitation service charges, which are levied by the service providers, the law introduces an abstraction tax and a pollution tax, income from which goes to the Water Management Fund.
The abstraction tax is levied on anyone who draws surface water or groundwater and is based on the volume of water drawn (measured by a metering device installed by the user). In addition to the public utilities, which provide 43 million m3 of water annually (70 % for the public network and 30 % for industry), the agri-food industry extracts an additional 4 million m3 of ground water, but not all these extraction sources are equipped with metering devices.
The discharge of waste water into surface or underground water sources is subject to a pollution tax. The tax is proportionate to the units of pollutant load in the water discharged. It must be paid when any of the following thresholds is exceeded: 250 kg/year for chemical oxygen demand (COD); 125 kg/year for nitrogen (N); 15 kg/year for phosphorus (P); or 5.2 kg/year for suspended particulate matter (SPM). The volume of water discharged is equal to the volume of water drawn from the public distribution network. A 10-20 % reduction in the tax is offered to municipalities that have installed rainwater treatment and management facilities in their network. For industry, the number of units of pollutant load taken as a basis for calculating the tax is the authorised pollutant load. However, if that load is exceeded, the tax may be increased. It can also be reduced if the pollutant load is at least 20 % less than what would result from the discharge authorisation.
The Water Management Fund was created in 1999 to subsidise sewage treatment and is financed by budgetary allocations. The Fund is also considering resorting to loans from the European Investment Bank, so as not to hinder the development of sanitation and waste water treatment infrastructure in the coming years. The Fund can cover up to 90 % of the municipality's capital costs for sewerage and sewage treatment. The Water Act expands the scope of the Fund. It authorises coverage of: (i) up to 50 % for measures to protect water resources intended for human consumption (with the exception of agricultural activity); (ii) up to 80 % of the cost of flood risk abatement and (iii) up to 100 % of watercourse rehabilitation costs. The law also allows the Fund to cover up to 100 % of expenditure on projects of national interest to safeguard the quality of surface and groundwater or protect available water resources in the long term. The Water Management Fund must distribute its revenues on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis for the projects selected. The Fund itself is administered by a management committee, including representatives of the ministries responsible for water management, the budget, agriculture, health and the environment.
The Water Act also called for management plans to be prepared for Luxembourg's two river basins (the Moselle and the Chiers) and these were made public at the end of 2009. Furthermore, it requires the establishment of a "general municipal plan for the urban water cycle" in each municipality. This plan must contain an inventory of underground waters, water supply and sanitation infrastructure; areas listed in the protected zones registry and details of flood-prone districts. These municipal plans will provide the basis for preparing a national urban water cycle plan.
According to the Water Act, the Water Management Administration is to work with the municipalities and administrations concerned to establish a master plan for flood risk management, reflecting the objectives of the European Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). Between 1998 and 2002, the Spatial Planning Department established a partial management plan for flood zones and retention zones for various communities affected by high water along the Moselle and its tributaries. During the period 2002-09, the project was upgraded to a Flood Vulnerability Atlas and the investigated area has been raised to 15 Luxembourg's watercourses. The results of the TIMIS flood project (Transnational Internet Map Information System on Flooding) were posted on the internet – site 1 and site 2. In application of article 13 of the Floods Directive, the flood hazard maps and flood risk maps are being accomplished by the end of 2010 and will be send out to the municipalities for validation. The mapping of flood zones and flood risks is to be superimposed onto the municipalities' general land use plans. In particular, new urban development must be prohibited in flood zones, unless the retention volume lost can be offset and the development does not increase risks upstream and downstream.
Beyond conventional dike-building measures, the flood risk management plans will focus on improving the eco-morphological structure of riverbeds and restoring natural water retention areas. The costs are borne by the municipalities; however they may receive government subsidies of up to 50 % (or 80 % for inter-municipal works). Agricultural restrictions can also be imposed with a view to limiting the leaching of pollutants. For example, surface water management seeks to keep watercourses flowing freely and to maintain their banks in good condition. Maintenance focuses on riverbeds and the vegetation of river banks, riparian zones and floodplains. Up to 50 % of the costs incurred are borne by the Government. Another example is the rehabilitation of watercourses and associated wetlands to enhance their flood control function. A number of "watercourse partnerships" - rehabilitation projects involving local communities and citizens at the watershed level - are now underway. The cost of rehabilitation is borne by the municipalities, although they may receive state subsidies of up to 100 %. Achieving sound hydro-morphological status for watercourses, as required under the Water Act, will largely depend on cooperation with riparian owners to maintain vegetation along river banks and/or state purchase of the river banks. Several "flood partnerships" (national and transnational) are founded in order to maintain a certain level of flood risk awareness among the population and to involve the public into the implementation of the Floods Directive. Concerted action with neighbouring countries has led to the implementation of the Flood Action Plan Moselle since 1998 (with Germany, Belgium and France), under the aegis of the International Commissions for the Protection of the Moselle and the Sarre, and to closer cooperation on flood risk information (with France and Germany). The Flood Action Plan Moselle provides a basis to establish the flood risk management plan in conformity with the Floods Directive.
The quality of all drinking water resources (250 catchment sources, 50 drilling holes and the Esch-sur-Sûre reservoir) is regularly monitored. Suppliers are responsible for monitoring the quality of the water they deliver for human consumption. The Grand Ducal Regulation of 7 October 2002, which transposes into law Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption, requires drinking water suppliers to audit their infrastructure and assess the state of water resources. A total of 97 of the 116 municipalities and the seven inter-municipal syndicates had finished their audit by the end of March 2010.
Delimitations of ground water protection zones according to Art. 44 of the Water Act are about to be established. By October 2010 technical studies started at 28 % of the catchment areas. The first official delimitations are expected during the first term of 2011.
Financial assistance to the municipalities from the Water Management Fund has been doubled to help them to cover 90 % of investments in sewerage and sewage treatment. However, although the proportion of the population connected to a waste water treatment plant is very high (95 %), only 22 % is connected to a tertiary treatment station, even though the entire country is classified as a sensitive area under the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC). A dual-channel system to separate rainwater (which can re-infiltrate the water table naturally) and sewage (which requires purification) is still not in place, with the exception of the cities of Luxembourg and Esch-sur-Alzette and in new housing developments.
The Water Administration web site: click here (in French and German).
2009 Activity Report of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Greater Region – p. 57-58 and Annex 4, p. 62-119: click here (in French).
]]>The population of Luxembourg looks set to continue increasing. It is estimated that by 2024 it could reach 560 000 to 605 000 inhabitants, giving rise to an overall increase in the demand for drinking water (estimated at between 47 and 51 million m3). To ensure an adequate supply of drinking water, new sources (underground and surface) will have to be developed.
The usage intensity of available resources in households, industry and agriculture is relatively low compared to other developed countries, reflecting the low level of abstractions for agriculture. Daily household consumption is 140 litres per capita. There is little loss through leakage and many of the water supply systems have been upgraded over the last 10 years.
Ground water provides 57 % of the 47 million m3 of drinking water used annually in Luxembourg. In the southern industrial region, industries and utilities must draw from the water table of the Luxembourg sandstone aquifer, located in the centre of the country, and from the Esch-sur-Sûre reservoir in the north to cover their water needs. Under the Water Act, there must be a balance between depletion and renewal of underground water sources so that they will be in good condition no later than 2015. The preference given to surface tapping over groundwater pumping eliminates the risk of over-exploitation of the sandstone aquifer, which supplies more than half of the country's drinking water. On the other hand, the Esch-sur-Sûre reservoir, which provides 43 % of the water supply to public utilities in Luxembourg, is in a critical state of eutrophication.
While the demand for water from industry has decreased with the improvement of industrial processes, notably in the metallurgy sector, household consumption has increased by 1.35 % per year over the last 15 years, reflecting the country's strong demographic growth and the steady increase in cross-border workers.
According to the Water Act, all surface water bodies must be protected, improved or restored to meet the definition of "good status" by the end of 2015. However, it is estimated that at least 72 % of surface water bodies (watercourses and reservoirs) will not meet the 2015 chemical and biological quality targets under the EU Water Framework Directive. While the pollution level in watercourses has decreased slightly in recent years, 39 % of watercourses are still heavily polluted and 54 % moderately polluted.
With regard to new contaminants, the watercourses of the Alzette and the Mess, located in industrialised and heavily populated environments, have been found to contain xenobiotic pollution from antibiotics, analgesics and hormones. There are several xenobiotic pollutants coming from diffuse pollution that are found in all major watercourses. These pollutants can not be eliminated by the existing purification plants.
Under the terms of the Water Act, all bodies of groundwater must be protected, improved and restored to "good status" by the end of 2015. The main groundwater pollutants are nitrates and pesticides. The nitrogen content at the national level has decreased considerably since the early 1990s, dropping from 200 kg N/hectare to 111 kg N/hectare in 2004 (last available year). However, a recent study showed that 40 % of the surface area that drains into drinking water sources discharges water containing 25-50 mg/l of nitrates. Moreover, some of the sources show a clear trend towards deterioration. At the national level, half of the nitrogen input comes from the use of chemical fertilisers, and a third from livestock effluents; the rest is atmospherically deposited. In up to 90 % of the monitored ground water sampling sites pesticides are detected, sometimes at concentrations that exceed the threshold value of 100 ng/litre. This indicates that not only is the Luxembourg sandstone aquifer more vulnerable to pollution than the aquifers of neighbouring regions, but also that there is a lack of protection for the abstraction areas.
Flooding is the most serious natural hazard in Luxembourg, both because of the damage it causes and because of the number of municipalities affected. In recent decades, Luxembourg has suffered numerous bouts of flooding, in 1983 along the Moselle and in 1993, 1995 and 2003 in the Sûre basin. Since 1995, the Government has been covering 50 % of the cost of flood control measures.
]]>In Luxembourg, at least 70 % of surface water is likely to fall short of the EU's 2015 targets for chemical and biological quality as determined under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). With regard to drinking water, sources have not yet been protected, despite a legal obligation to do so dating back more than 15 years. According to the application of the Ground Water Directive 2 of 5 ground water bodies are considered to be in poor qualitative status regarding nitrates and pesticides. Moreover, rural development policies have focused more on farm modernisation and the continued use of agricultural land than on the targeted protection of water resources.
]]>Priority areas in relation to water quality and resources, as set out in the Environmental Policy Strategy 2009–15 are:
In accordance with national guidelines and Water Framework Directive river basin management plans, the indicators used to characterise the effectiveness of national environmental policy will be:
However, once available, the results should be carefully analysed. At present, due to the complicated economical and financial situation, it is difficult to reliably forecast future trends in water quality and resources. There is no clear picture of how the situation will be after structural changes affecting the main driving forces have made an impact on the above environmental issues.
]]>One distinctive feature of Germany is its political division in the period from 1949 to 1989, which led to different political, economic and societal developments. Fourty years of a socialist planned economy in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) resulted in massive environmental damage. Industrial productivity in 1989 was running at just one-third of the West German level. The capital stock was completely outdated. Urgent investments in the environmental infrastructure had not been made, and the air and water pollution represented acute risks to human health.
Following the collapse of the political system of the GDR and the fall of the Berlin wall on 9 November 1989, the ecological rehabilitation and development of the new Länder became one of the urgent priorities of environmental policy. The essential provisions of the environmental legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany came into force in the German Democratic Republic as early as 1 July 1990 – at the same time as the economic, monetary and social union. Transitional periods were fixed in order to meet the various standards. Comprehensive aid programmes were set up in order to support ecological reconstruction. The environmental legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany also became applicable in the new Länder with the integration of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thüringen in the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990.
The starting situation in the new Länder in 1990 was characterised, in particular in the industrial centres and the main population centres, by a high level of air pollution with harmful substances. Modernisation of the energy industry, restructuring of industry with the decommissioning of obsolete manufacturing facilities and their replacement with modern equivalents together with a series of additional factors, such as the renewal of the motor vehicle stock, very quickly led to a decrease in pollution in the new federal Länder.
Until the start of the 1990s, the air pollutant sulphur dioxide (SO2) was still one of the main components of urban air pollution in Germany. Whereas SO2 pollution in the old federal territory had already fallen drastically in the 1970s as a result of emission reduction measures, until 1990 the industrial conurbations in eastern Germany continued to belong to the regions of western Europe that were most seriously affected by environmental pollution because of the outdated chemical and lignite processing industries. Around one-third more sulphur dioxide and particulates were emitted in the territory of the present-day Saxony-Anhalt alone in 1989 than in the whole of the former federal territory. SO2 emissions are now at a level at which harmful effects on human health and vegetation are scarcely detectable. This positive trend can be attributed to the systematic modernisation of the large combustion plants and conversion to new energy sources (natural gas and mineral oil), including in the case of small combustion plants.
The successful reduction of SO2 pollution by emission reduction measures, above all in power stations and industrial plants, has resulted in a situation in which today air pollutants from the transport sector are increasingly in evidence. These include above all particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) which, because of their high concentrations of airborne pollutants and the resulting risks to health, are at the forefront of public interest.
PM10: From the late 1980s/early 1990s to the end of the 1990s, there was a steep reduction in the concentration and a continuous alignment of the particulate matter level in the new Länder, above all in conurbations like Halle/Leipzig. Stagnation has been noted in both east and west since 2000 (see the figure below).
The applicable annual NO2 limit value for the protection of human health (a mandatory 40 µg/m³ for 2010) is not being met at many urban measurement points in Germany. Recordings at more than half of the urban traffic-oriented air measurement stations exceed this value. In residential areas remote from roads with heavy volumes of traffic, only a small number of measurement stations currently exceed the annual NO2 limit value that will be applicable from 2010. However, NO2 pollution in the new Länder - and also in the Halle/Leipzig conurbation - is lower than in the old Länder. This is because of the smaller number of vehicle mileage per year, the high proportion of new, relatively low-emission vehicles and the different composition of the fleet (diesel/petrol) in the east and west. In Halle/Leipzig the NO2 annual mean values lie below the stipulated limit values. Nevertheless, there are still instances of the limit values being exceeded at urban, traffic-oriented stations (for example: Leipzig city centre measurement station).
The pollution of all German rivers by nutrients and harmful substances has fallen significantly since the construction of wastewater treatment plants with third-stage (phosphorus removal) and fourth-stage (nitrate removal) cleaning and the restriction of industrial discharges. From 1990, these measures were also adopted in the new Länder, with the result that the water quality in the eastern German rivers recovered significantly. The connection of the eastern German population to wastewater treatment plants at between 69-90 % is quite high (old Länder: 94-100 %), as is the performance of the purification plants (level of oxygen demand: new Länder: 1.3 –1.5; old Länder 1.3 – 1.4).
The impact of wastewater treatment plants can be seen, for example, in the distinct reduction in the pollution of the River Elbe by ammonium-linked nitrogen (see the figure below). Nitrate concentration, on the other hand, is decreasing only slowly in all German rivers, because the nitrate originating from agriculture which enters watercourses via diffuse sources cannot be controlled.
Rehabilitation measures and the disappearance of many branches of industry – for example in the area of the River Mulde and River Saale, which are tributaries of the River Elbe – have also brought about a significant reduction in the discharge of industrial heavy metals. This could be seen particularly clearly by the mid-1990s in the reduction in pollution of the River Elbe with mercury from the chemical industry in the region of Halle and in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, mercury is still present in higher concentrations (from former contamination) than in other rivers.
The content of harmful substances in the water of the River Elbe has fallen significantly, on the whole, in some cases by as much as 90 %, since the early 1990s as a result of the disappearance of many branches of industry and thanks to wastewater treatment plants. Thanks to this positive development, the first International Elbe Swimming Day was held in June 2002, after swimming in the River Elbe had not been permitted for many decades for health reasons (Source: ARGE Elbe).
The water structure of watercourses in the new Länder is far better than in the old Länder. The following figure shows that, morphologically, the River Elbe is in a better position than other German rivers by a considerable margin. Because the economy was weak, the rivers in the GDR had been narrowed and 'managed' significantly less than in the old Länder. More natural habitats survived as a consequence of this – one of the reasons why the rivers were able to recover relatively quickly once the levels of harmful substances had been reduced.
The number of fish species and microorganisms is also increasing in eastern Germany along with the constant improvement in the water quality of the eastern German waters. The River Elbe was once one of the most abundant fish rivers in Europe. Even in 1900, the catches of the Elbe fishermen, at around 100 kilograms per hectare, were twice as high as in lakes. These included both indigenous fish species and migratory fish, which moved between the river system and the open sea. The most spectacular migratory fish species included the sturgeon, of which specimens of more than three metres in length were taken on occasion. Stocks were already on the decline in the 19th century – caused by expansion measures in the river and finally by industrial effluents in the 20th century. A number of fish stocks have recovered since the noticeable improvement in water quality around 1990. Since then, approximately 45 species are once again being recorded in the Middle Elbe, and there are even over 90 species in the Lower Elbe. One particularly positive feature, compared with rivers such as the Rhine or the Mosel, is that barrages are almost entirely absent in the German section (exception: Geesthacht), allowing endangered migratory fish to reach their spawning grounds.
The ecological crisis points in the economic zones of the former GDR, which were characterised by serious soil and groundwater contamination, were exposed with the unification of the two German states. In addition to extensive areas with contaminated sites left behind by the military and by uranium extraction in Thüringen and Saxony, these included above all the main centres of the chemical industry and the mining of lignite in the greater Leipzig/Bitterfeld/Halle/Merseburg region, copper mining and processing in the Mansfelder Land region, the lignite region of Niederlausitz and the coastal region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Damage to the countryside over a large area in the form of extensive holes left over from opencast mining and tips, a seriously disrupted water balance and abandoned landfill sites – in particular from lignite processing facilities and the chemical industry – represented a considerable risk to the environment.
With the completion of German reunification, either the new Länder or the Federal Republic of Germany became successors in title and as such were responsible for the rehabilitation of the contaminated sites on the former territory of the GDR. In December 1992, the Federal Government and Treuhandanstalt (THA) reached agreement with the Länder of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thüringen for the joint financing of these tasks. An administrative agreement in respect of the financial arrangements for the contaminated sites was concluded for this purpose.
This agreement regulates proportionate funding by the Federal Government and the Länder. Prerequisite is the exemption by the Land authorities of the investors from responsibility for and the costs of all environmental damage that occurred before 1 July 1990, in accordance with the Environmental Protection Framework Act (Umweltrahmengesetz) / Act to Remove Obstacles to the Privatisation of Enterprises and to Promote Investment (Hemmnisbeseitigungsgesetz). Under this exemption, any claims asserted against the Länder are shared in the proportion 60 (Federal Government) to 40 (Länder). A cost-sharing arrangement of 75 (Federal Government) to 25 (Länder) was laid down for large-scale ecological projects. These costs will be reduced by the amount taken over by the purchaser of the property. The Federal Government and the Länder have already spent more than EUR 3 billion on more than 20 large-scale projects (see the locations overview below).
The Federal Government and the Länder have also been working together since 1992 on the task of lignite rehabilitation (for more details, see the section entitled Lignite rehabilitation) and have already invested EUR 8 million in this. The financing of the specific measures for lignite rehabilitation is met 75 % by the Federal Government and 25 % by the Länder. Supplementary measures to avert risks posed by any increase in the level of the groundwater are financed in equal parts by the Federal Government and the Länder.
A further mining rehabilitation programme should be completed by the year 2015, when the so called "Wismut rehabilitation programme" to rehabilitate and revitalise the radioactive and chemically and toxically contaminated legacy of the former uranium ore mining in Saxony and Thüringen. The Federal Government has sole financial responsibility for this programme, with a budget appropriation of EUR 6.2 billion.
Furthermore, numerous areas that were previously used by the military were returned to the economic cycle once again and rehabilitated for end users in the course of the conversion.
Locations overview for large-scale projects in the new Länder (Figure 6)
Berlin 1) Spree industrial area |
Brandenburg 3) Oranienburg region 5) PCK Schwedt |
Mecklenburg Western Pomerania 6) Wismar 7) Rostock 8) Stralsund |
Free State of Saxony 9) SOW Böhlen 10) Saxonia Freiberg 11) Dresden Coschütz/Gittersee 12) Lautawerk |
Saxony Anhalt 13+14) Bitterfeld/Wolfen 15) Buna 16) Leuna 17) Zeitz 18) Mansfeld |
Free State of Thüringen 21+22) Kali Werra, Kali Südharz 23) Rositz |
Attractive regions with a high landscape, natural and recreational value as well as modern locations for industry and commerce have been established on the former lignite open-cast mining sites of the German Democratic Republic's lignite industry. Lausitzer Seenland and Leipziger Neuseenland are prominent examples of these 'succession landscapes'. The rehabilitation and redesign of the sites is the responsibility of the government-owned company, Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (LMBV), which is managing a non-privatised area of around 100 000 ha and rehabilitating and remodelling it according to the provisions of the mining and water use legislation of the Länder authorities.
The mining-related land rehabilitation is now largely complete, and almost all the planned lakes have been flooded. In view of the risk of acidification due to the high iron and sulphur content of the soils and the water logging of locations as a result of an increase in the level of the groundwater, the aftercare of stretches of water is particularly problematic, and for this reason science, administration and business were required to develop problem-solving strategies in close cooperation with one another. The scientific and technological expertise acquired in these regions has attracted considerable international interest and will henceforth also be made available to other countries via an international subsidiary company of LMBV.
The farmers in the GDR used 10 % more fertiliser per hectare of agricultural land than their counterparts in the West. 65 % of the fertiliser consisted of sewage sludge from in part heavily polluted wastewater treatment plants. 'Liquid manure high load areas' came into being, and high eluviation losses resulting from the heavy spatial concentration in 'livestock production' and the large quantity of liquid manure. Vegetation damage on a massive scale occurred around animal husbandry facilities within a large radius as a consequence of ammonia gas concentrations in the air.
By comparison with the West, twice the quantity of pesticides was applied. This resulted in the severe impoverishment of agricultural soils and contamination of stretches of water. Tests on cereals, vegetables and fruits revealed high concentrations of harmful substances.
Since reunification, agricultural land use, in particular in the new Länder, has changed for the better. Farmers now apply fertilisers and pesticides only to a limited extent. Many areas were no longer fertilised at all in the period following reunification in an effort to allow them to recover. The instruments that have brought about significant changes in the new Länder include the German fertiliser regulation (Düngeverordnung), according to which the rate of application of commercial fertilisers is limited to 170 kgN/ha, and a core waiting period must be observed for application outside the growing season.
Since 2000, the new Länder, like the old Länder, have promoted the expansion of organically cultivated agricultural land. Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where organically cultivated agricultural land has a share of more than 8 to 10 % of the total cultivated area, are today among the leading federal Länder.
Particularly at a time of drastic decline in the biological diversity of Germany, in which an increasing number of habitats are being destroyed and as a result plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, eastern Germany can report some encouraging successes in the area of nature conservation. The populations of white stork, eagle owl, peregrine falcon, otter and salmon are recovering. It has also been possible to downgrade a number of highly threatened species on the Red List, for example several species of bat, into lower threat categories.
The proportion of the land area represented by national conservation areas in the new Länder is directly comparable with that of the old Länder. It is appropriate at this point to highlight the areas that have a particularly strong need of protection, such as the nature conservation areas. According to § 23(1) of the Federal Nature Conservation Act (BNatSchG), these serve the conservation, development or restoration of biotopes or communities of wild animal and plant species. The national parks fall into the same category. According to § 24 of the Act, these are areas that have to be uniformly protected, are extensive in size, have particular features, meet the requirements for nature conservation areas in most of the area they cover, and are in a condition that is only slightly if at all influenced by humans in most of the area they cover. As the figure shows, in addition to North Rhine-Westphalia there are two new Länder that exhibit the highest land area proportion for nature conservation areas/national parks in Germany: Brandenburg with 7.4 % and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 6.3 %.
The 'Grünes Band', the strip of land which formerly included the border between the Federal Republic and the GDR, deserves special mention at this point. This green belt, an area of around 7 000 hectares that had been inaccessible to people for decades, is characterised by its particular abundance of endangered species and habitats and functions as a nationally important biotope network.
The increasing use of renewable energy, the systematic promotion of the efficient use of energy, the replacement of obsolete industrial plants by modern industrial plants and climate-relevant measures for waste management, such as the closure of dumps and their modernisation in line with the very latest technology, have ensured a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the new Länder. In this way, since the 1990s, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the new Länder have been reduced by about half and this has helped enormously towards the achievement of Germany's climate protection goals. Saxony alone, a traditionally industrial location, reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 63 % in the first decade following reunification (Environmental Report 2007, Free State of Saxony).
The new Länder in particular have been given a new impetus by the boom in renewable energies. Leading companies for wind power, photovoltaics and biofuels have relocated here. In the energy supply sector, the eastern part of Germany thus plays an increasingly important role – supported by funding from the European Union (EU).
Status 2008/2009:
Germany is an increasingly attractive location for solar energy. The country already has 150 factories for the manufacture of solar technology for the production of heat and power. Most new start-ups are in eastern Germany.
Brandenburg, with 3 128 megawatts of newly installed wind power capacity, occupies second place in Germany after Lower Saxony. Saxony-Anhalt follows in third place with 2 533 megawatts, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is in sixth place with 1 233 megawatts (in each case this means new capacity since 2006).
In view of the very high consumption of non-renewable raw materials, the supply and use of renewable raw materials are becoming increasingly important. Germany leads the world in the production of biodiesel. Two-thirds of all German biodiesel production plants and the largest bioethanol plants are in the new Länder. The high technological level, both in the eastern German research sector and in the companies themselves, has contributed to this. In Saxony, according to the Ministry of the Environment of Saxony, there are 210 plants in which solid or liquid biomass (predominantly wood and vegetable oil) is used for heating and energy production. The generation of electricity from solid biomass has more than doubled compared with 2003. In addition, 54 biogas plants supply electricity and to some extent heating to public and private supply networks. 640 biogas plants could be operated in Saxony with the potential available in the agricultural sector alone.
Agricultural and forestry use are crucially important for the status of species, biotopes and ecosystems, and are therefore areas in which action is particularly needed to conserve biodiversity.
Around 53 % of the land in Germany is used for agriculture, the largest form of land use. Intensification, particularly in areas with good soil, is threatening conservation, but the discontinued use of farmland in the Central German Uplands (Mittelgebirge) and other areas with less good soils also represents a threat to biodiversity. Here some landscapes and sites of high conservation value are losing that value because agricultural use is not longer maintained. The main factor responsible for this has been the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which has encouraged both intensification and land abandonment in recent decades. The agricultural reforms of 2003 and the CAP health check decisions have marked the first steps in giving a more nature-friendly structure. However, the key to conserving and developing biodiversity on the majority of the land in Germany is for the CAP to be given a new, even more nature-friendly direction after 2013. The use of agro-genetic technologies must continue to be subject to environmental sustainability checks in each individual case and must take stronger account of the precautionary principle.
Woods and forests currently cover around 30 % of Germany's land area, with conifer forests of spruce and pine, as well as other species, accounting for approximately 60 % of the woodland. Some of management methods such as clear cutting, large-scale shelterwood felling have caused problems for conservation, fundamentally changing the woodland's spatial mix and age structures. Many forestry services, particularly after experiencing storm damage on various occasions, have reacted by changing their approach and shifting to non-coniferuous mixed woodland and more natural management methods. Recently, however, these efforts have begun to falter for various reasons including the greater emphasis on profitability by the reformed forestry services and the increased demand for wood for bioenergy. Further progress must be made in pursuing these conservation efforts. Key elements here are the use of locally endemic and native tree species, an adequate proportions of old and dead wood, effective management of wild fauna and the designation of 5 % of woodland to remain unmanaged, as called for in the National Biodiversity Strategy (National Response).
Air pollution poses a major threat to ecosystems and biodiversity. In the 1970s the cross-border movement of acidifying pollutants – acid rain – demonstrated that international efforts were the only way to fight this. Throughout Europe eutrophication by atmospheric nitrogen discharges constitutes the greatest problem, alongside ozone damage and acidification.
Although the emission of eutrophying pollutants, including nitrogen oxides and ammonia, has been significantly reduced, it is still too high when measured against what ecosystems can tolerate in the long term. The sulphur and nitrogen that have accumulated in the soil over past decades will pose a critical threat for years to come (see also 'Air pollution in Germany').
The discharge of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) to water bodies has far-reaching effects, such as eutrophication and nitrate pollution of groundwater, surface waters and oceans.
The main sources of water pollution are agriculture, municipal wastewater treatment plants, power stations, transport and industrial plants. However, water pollution caused by wastewater from municipal treatment plants and industry has been considerably reduced in recent years, in part because of changes to the Water Management Act (see also chapter on 'Fresh water in Germany').
The area of land used for human settlement and transport in Germany increased by 104 ha/day between 2005 and 2008, though the increase was slower than in the period 2004 to 2007 – 113 ha/day. Much of the land taken was previously farmland (see also the chapter on 'Land use').
The growing area taken for settlement and transport in Germany not only means that landscape is constantly being consumed and habitats destroyed, but there are also other indirect effects, such as habitats being fragmented and isolated. Fragmentation impedes and prevents exchanges between populations and, depending on the volume of traffic, can present an insuperable barrier for the species affected (see also the chapter on 'Land use').
]]>Germany's Red Lists assess the threat level according to the size of the population and how it is changing. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz) is to produce up-to-date figures for these Red Lists by 2011. Volume 1 (vertebrates) was published at the end of 2009.
The 1998 German Red List covers all vertebrates and selected groups of invertebrates, assessing the threat level to more than 16 000 of the 48 000 or so native animal species.
The updated Red Lists for vertebrates, published in 2009, looks at less than 1 % of the species in Germany. These thus represent just a small section of Germany's biodiversity, but they tend to be the ones that are the subject of special conservation measures – hunting bans, nest monitoring, bat roosting boxes in houses, amphibian tunnels, etc. A comparison of short- and long-term trends shows that the populations of many species have stabilised or in some cases increased, which may be the result of successful conservation. However, urgent action is still needed for the many species are still in steady decline.
Reptiles are the most highly endangered group of vertebrates, with > 60% of species and subspecies under threat. In all the other vertebrate groups fewer than 40 % of taxa are endangered (Categories 1, 2, 3 and G).
Among ferns and flowering plants, of the 3 000 or so species surveyed 1996 26.8 % were endangered and 1.6% extinct, while among mosses 34.5 % of the 1 100 or so species were endangered and 4.8 % extinct. New figures will be available in 2011 with the updated Red Lists for plants and fungi.
In Germany 264 non-native species of animals and 609 non-native species of plants are currently classified as established. Around 5 % are invasive, threatening biological diversity by competing for habitat or resources, transferring diseases or altering the gene pool through hybridisation – examples include herbaceous knotweeds. With climate change non-native species are expected to spread further and this, together with the introduction of new species, means that there will be an even greater threat from invasive species.
The Red List of endangered biotope types documents the threat status and change in Germany, with a particular view to biotope conservation and site-specific planning. According to current figures there were 690 biotopes in Germany in 2006, excluding purely technical ones such as roads, buildings and landfill sites. Of these 72.5 % are classified as endangered (Categories 0-3), and two have already been completely destroyed.
Figure 1. Endangered biotopes, 2006
The proportion of immediately threatened biotope types (Categories 1 and 1-2) has fallen from 15.0% in 1994 to 13.8 %, a clear sign that the conservation measures are beginning to work. However, heavily endangered and endangered habitats have increased proportionately – Categories 2 and 2-3: from 32.7 % to 34.6 %; Category 3: from 20.8 % to 23.8 %. This means that certain biotopes classified as not threatened in 1994 are now under threat.
The sustainability indicator for species diversity, made up of six sub-indicators for farmland, forests, settlements, inland waters, coast/sea and Alps, is a useful source of information on the status of and changes to nature and the landscape in Germany (Figure 4).
In 1990 the species diversity indicator value was well below osethose reconstructed for 1970 and 1975. Since 1990, however, the indicator value has barely changed, and between 1999 and 2008 it has remained flat. In 2008 it stood at around 69 % of the target value for 2015. If this trend continues the target will not be achieved without considerable efforts from central government, the Länder and local authorities in as many areas of policy as possible.
The main causes of the decline in biodiversity are the intensification of agricultural and forest use, landscape fragmentation and urban sprawl, the sealing of land and discharges such as acidifying substances and fertilisers (see Chapter 3). In settlements the loss of near-natural areas and village structures as a result of construction is having a negative impact. Threats to coastal habitats include disruption caused by greater leisure use and the building of such structures as coastal defences. In forests, on the other hand, the promotion of semi-natural management is having a positive effect on population trends.
Figure 2. Sustainability indicator for species diversity (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, 2010)
In December 2007 the national report under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive was officially forwarded to the European Commission. This had been prepared by the federal and Länder authorities working closely together, and, for the first time, provided a comprehensive overview of the conservation status of the 91 German habitat types and 230 species listed under the Habitats Directive.
Figure 3. Biogeographical regions in Germany (Source: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation)
The results show that the status of around a quarter of the species and habitat types covered by the Habitats Directive is favourable, confirming that the national implementation of EU's conservation policy is beginning to bear fruit. However, the status of the majority of many habitats and species is also still poor.
Figure 4. Conservation status of habitat types and species covered by the Habitats Directive in Germany's three biogeographical regions
Clean watercourses are enormously important for conserving biodiversity. Rivers and streams contain many species and habitats that are very sensitive to pollution and changes in water quality.
Biological water quality describes the levels of biodegradable pollutants in watercourses. The main basis for determining this is the standardised measurement of the occurrence and frequency of certain indicator organisms that break down substances (bacteria, fungi, entomostracans and insect larvae).
The biological water quality has improved steadily – the proportion of watercourse sections with a water quality of Grade II or above increased from 47 % in the period up to 1995 to 65 % up to 2000 and to 74 % up to 2006. The main reason has been the improvement in wastewater treatment by municipal plants and industry since the 1970s. In particular the proportion of critically, heavily, very heavily or excessively polluted watercourse sections has fallen. However, the water quality of watercourses continues to be adversely affected by diffuse discharges especially in areas with intensive arable and livestock farming.
As well as causing economic and social problems, climate change is also going to have a serious impact on biodiversity. The first effects on flora and fauna can already be seen in Germany where, since the late 1980s, spring phenology, marked by the onset of apple blossom, has begun noticeably earlier.
The direct impact of climate change has also long been evident in bird migration. For instance, the blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), like many other short- and medium-range migrants, has been returning to its breeding grounds several days earlier over the last three decades.
In autumn, however, there is no clear trend of the phenology phases becoming later.
The effects of the shifts in phenology phases on animal and plant populations have only just begun to be understood. While some bird species breed more successfully as a result of shorter winters, for example, the change in timing can have a negative impact on populations of plant species and their pollinators or predators and on predator-prey relationships.
]]>The nitrogen surplus determined from the total nitrogen balance is an indicator of potential discharges of nitrogen compounds into groundwater, surface waters and the air. It is calculated from the difference between nitrogen flows into agriculture and nitrogen flows exported from it. The figures given here are averages for Germany. In order to offset annual weather-dependent variations beyond anyone's control, a sliding three-year average is taken for the middle year in each case.
Since 1993 the nitrogen surplus in the three-year average has fallen from 115 kg/ha and year to 105 kg/ha and year (see figure), corresponding to a reduction of 9 %. Overall, in the period from 1993 to 2007, just under a third of the target reduction by 2010 had been achieved. The reduction in the early 1990s was not because nitrogen was used more efficiently, rather because of the decline in the livestock population in the new Länder. In the past five years the average annual reduction in the balance has been less than 2 %, whereas it needed to decrease 10% a year between 2008 and 2010 for the target to be reached. The 2007 amendment to the Fertilisers Regulation introduced mandatory operational ceilings for the surplus of each farm. Further efforts to improve nitrogen use are needed.
Diffuse sources of nitrogen are always at a maximum where too many livestock are being kept on sites where there is a risk of leaching.
In 2005 nitrogen discharges into surface waters stood at 565 kt/a, a reduction of 465 kt/a or 45% from the reference year of 1985 (see figure below). This meant that the internationally agreed target of halving nitrogen discharges into the oceans between 1985 and 2000 had still not been reached by 2005. Nitrogen discharges from point sources – municipal wastewater treatment plants and industrial dischargers – fell by 76 % between 1985 and 2005, reducing the proportion of the total discharge accounted for by point sources in 2005 to 18 %. This was largely due to more efficient wastewater treatment: in contrast, nitrogen discharges from diffuse sources fell by only 24%.
At 48 %, discharges through groundwater were overall the dominant entry route in 2005. Discharges into surface waters through erosion and atmospheric deposition accounted for only a small proportion of the total discharges – 2 % each.
Phosphorus discharges into surface waters nationwide stood at some 23 kt/a in 2005 (see figure below), a drop of around 58 kt/a – 71 % from the reference year of 1985. The target of halving phosphorus discharges into the oceans has thus been met in all river areas.
The reduction in phosphorus discharges is also largely due to the reduction in discharges from point sources – 86 %. However, despite this huge reduction, at 35 % of the total in 2005, discharges from point sources were still the most dominant entry route. Diffuse phosphorus discharges were reduced by only 29 %. The majority of this was accounted for by the 71 % reduction in discharges from urban areas, including combined sewer system overflows, rain discharges from separated sewer systems and wastewater from households not connected to a municipal treatment plant or sewer system.
Of the diffuse sources of phosphorus the main discharges are from erosion with 22 % of the total, followed by 20 % of discharges through groundwater.
Heavy metal discharges into surface waters in Germany fell considerably between 1983 and 2005.
The targets set by the international marine conventions of reducing discharges of chromium, copper, nickel and zinc by 50 % and of cadmium, mercury and lead by 70 % from 1985 levels had been achieved or surpassed by 2005, with the sole exception of nickel, a very high percentage of which is geo-genic and unavoidable. The reductions in individual metals range from 47 % for nickel to 91 % for mercury, and are mainly the result of drastic reductions in point source industrial discharges, ranging from 89 % for lead to 99 % for mercury. Measures taken by industry to meet stricter statutory requirements have played a decisive part in these environmental improvements, as has the reduction in industrial activity in the new Länder since 1990.
In 2005 industrial discharges were responsible for only a very small proportion of the total discharge, ranging from 3% for nickel to 8 % for chromium.
Point source discharges from municipal wastewater treatment plants continued to be high, but in 2005 water pollution was dominated by discharges from diffuse sources that varied from 56 % for cadmium to 84 % for lead.
The main diffuse pathways were erosion, groundwater inflows and urban areas – particularly from sewer systems and residents not connected to mains sewers – that accounted for varying proportions of the heavy metals. Erosion discharges mainly involved chromium (62%) and lead (48%).
For nickel the main discharge – 45 %, – was geo-genic, through groundwater. A high percentage of the discharges, other than of nickel and chromium, into surface waters also comes from urban areas. This includes discharges from combined and separate sewer systems which account for particularly high proportions of the total discharge for zinc (39 %), copper (31 %) and lead (22 %). Since a significant proportion of the precipitation runoff in combined systems goes to wastewater treatment plants, such systems are preferable to separate systems as far as heavy metals are concerned (see figures 3 and 4).
The main user groups – industry, including thermal power plants; public water supply; and agriculture – together took around 32 billion m³ from groundwater and surface water supplies in 2007.
Water extraction has been declining for years in all sectors, but the demand for water from thermal power stations has fallen the most.
At present the water demand from private households accounts for around 16 % of the total extracted; industry is responsible for the largest share of the demand with 84 %, over 73% of which is taken by thermal power plants, mainly for cooling, while just under 27% is needed by the mining and manufacturing industries for production processes. Water extraction for agriculture is not significant in Germany.
The total volume of 32.1 billion m³ represents less than 20 % of the potential water supply, in other words more than 80 % of the water supply is unused at present. The figure below shows the percentages of the main water users in proportion to the potential supply.
]]>Monitoring carried out by the German Working Group on Water Issues (LAWA, Länderarbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser) show that water pollution by substances such as organic environmental chemicals, heavy metals and nutrients has fallen by varying degrees in recent decades.
Adsorbable organically-bound halogens (AOX) and total nitrogen are seen as representative of the chemical pollution of Germany's watercourses. These summary indicators are used mainly to record industrial pollution from point sources (AOX) and diffuse pollution from agriculture (total nitrogen). Total nitrogen is also a significant indicator of pollution of the oceans via rivers. However, it should be made clear that while both groups of substances are important for characterising water quality, they by no means cover all aspects of the state of the water. They also do not reflect the considerable negative impact on ecological water quality caused by man-made changes to the structure of water-bodies.
Between 1996 and 2007 there was a slight improvement in water quality as regards AOX, though with considerable fluctuations: the proportion of monitored watercourses meeting the Class II chemical water quality target of 25 µg/l rose from an average of 39 % for 1996-1998 to an average of 47 % for 2005-2007.
For total nitrogen the pollution levels were higher: an average of only 13 % of monitoring stations met the Class II water quality requirement for total nitrogen of 3 mg/l between 1996 and 2007. Since 1996 the annual achievement has ranged from 11 % of monitoring stations (1999, 2004, and 2006) to 16 % (1997), while the most recent figure (2007) was 14 %. This shows that in future water pollution controls will be particularly needed in areas with diffuse pollutant discharges, particularly from agriculture. Intensive fertilisation and excessive concentrations of livestock produce an average annual nitrogen surplus of some 105 kg per hectare. The distribution of water quality classes for total nitrogen at the same 133 monitoring stations for 1996-2007 has seen a slight reduction in monitoring stations with high levels of pollution (Class III and worse), thanks mainly to improvements in wastewater treatment by municipal treatment plants and industry.
Only 21 % of Germany's rivers and streams – most of them in less populated areas – are still in a near-natural condition, meaning that they have undergone little or only moderate levels of man-made change. A total of 33 000 km of watercourses were surveyed and classified into seven grades – from Class I = unchanged to Class 7 = completely changed – according to the system used by the LAWA. The major rivers have generally been fitted with defences and locks for shipping and hydroelectric power generation. Large areas of their floodplains have also been cut off from the rivers and narrowed by flood embankments. This explains their considerable structural problems and why the vast majority were classified as substantially to completely changed. The Ems, Danube, Oder and Weser are graded as Class 6 or 7 for 50 % of their length while the intensive use of the Rhine and its surrounding area means that as much as 80 % of its length from Lake Constance to the Netherlands also falls into these classes.
In contrast, between the Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge) and the Geesthacht weir, the Elbe has sections that are clearly still structure-rich (Classes 3 and 4). Only the Tidal Elbe and the more densely populated stretches along the Upper Elbe are structure-poor and thus graded in Classes 6 and 7. This underlines the fact that near-natural sections of the major rivers, such as the free-flowing section of the Danube below the confluence with the Isar and the middle section of the Elbe, are rare and worth protecting.
Most of the smaller rivers and streams in the Central Uplands, the hill country and the North German Plain have also been altered for hydroelectric power generation, to protect areas of settlement and transport routes or for agricultural use including land improvement. They are regularly maintained, which tends to prevent morpho-dynamic processes, in other words natural development. These water bodies are mostly classified as distinctly changed – Class 4 – to completely changed – Class 7.
The Länder have set up theirs own individual monitoring networks to monitor groundwater quality. Nitrate levels are regularly tested at almost all the sites in the networks. For their regular reports to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the Länder chose representative sites and combined them to form what is known as the EEA groundwater monitoring network. The following chart gives an overview of nitrate pollution in the groundwater in 2007 based on the 683 sampling sites in this network where the groundwater nitrate content was determined.
Nitrate pollution depends to a large extent on land use in the catchment area of a station. Regional hydro-geological conditions such as depth to the water table and flow speed, as well as the underground hydro-chemical conditions, play an important role.
Concentrations are < 25 mg/l at 67.3 % of the stations. At 14.1%, however, the 50 mg/l limit for nitrate laid down in the EU- Drinking Water Directive is exceeded, sometimes considerably. In many cases this results from intensive agriculture in the catchment area in question. Under the terms of the EU's Water Framework Directive the groundwater here is of poor quality and measures must be taken to improve it.
Bathing water quality in Germany is monitored under Länder-level regulations that apply the values for excellent, good and sufficient bathing water quality as laid down in the EU Directive 2006/7/EC. This Directive replaces the 1975 Directive 76/160/ EEC. Since the 2008 bathing season, bathing waters are monitored under the new Directive. Classification requires data from four bathing seasons, and will only be available after the 2011 bathing season. Transitional rules apply until then.
In 2008 a total of 2 263 bathing waters in Germany were monitored under the new Directive, 373 of which were on the coast.
From 1992 to 2001 there was a steady reduction in non-compliance with the guide and imperative values. Since 2001 bathing water quality has been consistently high – on average 94 % of freshwater bathing places met the microbiological requirements, and 78 % the stricter guide values for good water quality. For coastal bathing waters the figures were 98 % and 87 % respectively.
With the new monitoring parameters in the 2008 bathing season an improvement in the quality of the freshwater bathing waters was observed. Considerably fewer of the coastal waters, however, were classified as good. This was partly because of a new classification for the estuary areas of the major coastal rivers such as the Elbe which usually do not have very good water quality. In line with the Water Framework Directive these have been classified as coastal waters instead of freshwater since the 2008 bathing season.
Only around 1 % of the 2 263 bathing waters had poor water quality in the 2008 bathing season.
]]>Water quality is also affected by weather conditions and variations in runoff[1]. During 2000–2003, there were periods where the water quality clearly deteriorated. In 2002 most of the country suffered from the worst drought in several decades, which caused water levels to drop in many water bodies. During the winter of 2002–2003, extremely poor oxygen conditions were observed in about 450 small and shallow lakes, especially in southern and western Finland, and mass die-offs of fish occurred in many of these lakes. The main reasons for the severe oxygen problems were an early ice cover and the low water levels. Low water levels also contributed to the degradation of rivers, especially in south-western Finland.
Nutrients from diffuse and point sources cause the water quality to deteriorate. The share of the diffuse sources of the total anthropogenic load for phosphorus is about 80 % and for nitrogen about 60 %. The anthropogenic load is higher than the natural leaching for both nutrients. The deposition affects the water quality, too. The input of nutrients due to deposition and natural leaching was estimated to enable the comparison with the amount of nutrient inputs from different anthropogenic sources in 2008.
Table 2: The phosphorus and nitrogen loads from different sources and the estimates of deposition and natural leaching in Finland in 2008
The comparison between the situation in 2008 and 2004 shows no significant changes. Many of the point source categories as well as the deposition show a slight decrease in the nutrient load. Agriculture is the largest source both in 2004 and in 2008 and the share of agriculture of the total load has slightly increased.
Table 3: Anthropogenic loads of nutrients in 2004 by source[3]
Figure 3: The shares of anthropogenic loads of nutrients in 2004 by source[4]
Even if the changes in the nutrient inputs have recently been small, some cases show significant decreases over a longer period of time. Especially emissions of phosphorus from industry and municipalities have had a clear decrease after 1980.
Figure 4: Development of nutrient emissions from point sources into water 1980 - 2007[5]
The use of phosphorus in agriculture has decreased considerably during the last two decades[6]. In the late 1980s, the phosphorus balance was around 30 kg/ha and has decreased smoothly since then to the 5 kg/ha of today. There is a decrease of almost 70 % in the use of phosphorus fertilisers and the phosphorus content in manure has fallen by 15 %. However, no clear signs have been observed in the water bodies despite the decrease in the phosphorus balance. This is basically due to the earlier accumulation of phosphorus in the soil.
In Europe the highest values of phosphorus balance are 15-20 kg/ha (Belgium, the Netherlands). The balance in Finland is slightly lower than in Denmark and Norway but higher than in Sweden (1 kg/ha) and Ireland (7 kg/ha).
The nitrogen balance has had a similar development; from values slightly above 100 kg/ha to below 50 kg/ha which is the average European level[7]. The nitrogen content in the fertilizers has decreased by 20 % and the content in manure by 25 %. This decrease has not yet been visible in the water quality.
There were over 200 municipal wastewater treatment facilities in 2004. With a very few exceptions, the treatment facilities use the biological-chemical (i.e. tertiary) process. The total incoming loads of BOD7, phosphorus and nitrogen have steadily increased but the effect of the reduction processes has increased even more. The percentage of reduction, calculated as the ratio between the amount of reduction and the load of the influent, is about 95-96 % for BOD7 and phosphorus. For nitrogen, the improvement of the reduction process has been as clear but the percentage of reduction remains slightly below 50 %
The treatment of wastewater in rural areas with no centralised sewerage system will be improved greatly over the coming years, thanks to legislation in the Onsite Wastewater System Decree (542/2003), which came into force on 1 January 2004. The Decree sets minimum standards for wastewater treatment and the planning, construction, use and maintenance of treatment systems. The treatment facilities should in most cases meet the new requirements by 2014.
[1] Source: Water quality affected by diffuse loads. Ministry of the Environment
[2] Source: The nutrient load and natural leaching (in Finnish). Finnish Environmental Administration
[3] Nyroos et al. (eds.): Vesiensuojelun suuntaviivat vuoteen 2005 Taustaselvityksen lähtökohdat ja yhteenveto. Finnish Environment 55/2006. Finnish Environment Institute. p 24 (in Finnish)
[4] Nyroos et al. (eds.): Vesiensuojelun suuntaviivat vuoteen 2005 Taustaselvityksen lähtökohdat ja yhteenveto. Finnish Environment 55/2006. Finnish Environment Institute. p 24 (in Finnish)
[5] Source: State of the environment in Finland 2008, p 16
[6] Source: Nutrient balance - phosphorus. MTT Agrifood Research Finland (in Finnish)
[7] Source: Nutrient balance - nitrogen. MTT Agrifood Research Finland (in Finnish)
[8] Source: Yhdyskuntien jätevesien puhdistus 2004 p 9-11 (in Finnish)
[9] Source: Wastewater treatment in rural areas. Finnish Environmental Administration
In November 2006, the Finnish Government approved a new set of national Water Protection Policy Outlines to 2015[2] in a decision-in-principle that also defines measures needed to improve water quality.
The new outlines define needs and objectives for the period until 2015, aiming:
· to reduce the nutrient loads that cause eutrophication
· to reduce the risks caused by hazardous substances
· to protect groundwater bodies
· to protect aquatic biodiversity
· to restore ecologically damaged water bodies
The decision-in-principle particularly stresses the need to combat eutrophication, which is the most serious ecological problem facing Finland's inland waters and the Baltic Sea today. Nutrient releases must be considerably reduced from their present levels in order to restore the natural ecological balance to water bodies.
The key objective in the decision-in-principle is that nutrient loads entering water bodies from agriculture should be reduced by a third by 2015 compared to their levels over the period 2001-2005, and halved over a longer timescale.
Municipal wastewater treatment must be further improved wherever wastewater is released into water bodies that are suffering from eutrophication. Nitrogen removal rates must be improved to ensure that at least 70 % of all nitrogen is removed in treatment plants dealing with wastewater from areas with more than 10 000 inhabitants.
[1] Source: Water protection targets for 2015, Finnish Environmental Administration
[2] Available in Finnish and Swedish: http://www.ymparisto.fi/download.asp?contentid=66351&lan=fi
The total quantity of water available in Croatia is approx. 156.32x109 m3 per year, out of which 23% are own waters. Surface water quantities have been systematically monitored for many years, while determining of groundwater reserves is partly based on estimates due to complex hydrogeologic relations at the Croatian territory and insufficient and inconsistent aquifer prospecting (Table 1).
Table 1. Quantities of surface inland water (water balance), 1961-1990
Indicator |
Danube River basin district |
Adriatic sea basin district |
Croatia |
Area |
km2 |
35,132 |
21,406 |
56,538 |
Precipitation |
mm |
1,001 |
1,426 |
1,162 |
Evapotranspiration |
mm |
663 |
761 |
700 |
Specific runoff |
L/s/km2 |
10,71 |
21,1 |
14,6 |
Water resources - total |
109 m3/yr |
83,72 |
27,94 |
111,66 |
Water resources – per capita |
m3/yr/capita |
27,487 |
20,077 |
25,163 |
Own waters - total |
109 m3/yr |
11,86 |
14,22 |
26,08 |
Own waters – per capita |
m3/yr/capita |
3,894 |
10,218 |
5,877 |
Source: Hrvatske Vode (Croatian Waters)/ Water Management Strategy
The quality of inland water is monitored and assessed in order to protect and preserve water quality in accordance with the Regulation [4]. The assessment of inland water quality in this report, prepared in accordance with the Regulation [1], does not include its amendments, since they were passed at the end of 2008. The number of stations at which the quality of inland water is monitored is given in Table 2.
Table 2. Number of stations for monitoring inland water quality in Croatia by basin districts, 2004-2008
Basin district |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
Republic of Croatia |
271 |
230 |
238 |
325 |
325 |
Danube River basin district |
Sava river basin |
185 |
193 |
205 |
191 |
187 |
Sava river basin* |
2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
Drava and Danube river basins |
- |
- |
- |
41 |
40 |
Adriatic sea basin district |
Istria-Littoral river basins* |
11 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
Dalmatian river basins* |
- |
- |
4 |
5 |
5 |
Republic of Croatia |
198 |
207 |
205 |
252 |
247 |
* (water intakes) |
Source: Hrvatske vode (Croatian Waters)
According to their quality, inland waters are classified into one of five classes in relation to the allowed limit values of indicators of oxygen regime, nutrients, and microbiological and biological indicators, while excluding dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation and nitrates as indicators of groundwater quality. Water classes are graphically presented by colour, namely blue for class 1, green for class 2, yellow for class 3, red for class 4 and black for class 5.
In the period 2004–2008, surface inland water mostly belong to class 2 with respect to biological parameters, class 2 and 3 with respect to oxygen regime and nutrients, and class 3 and 4 with respect to microbiological indicators (Figure 1). There is a characteristic trend of a slight decrease in BOD5 and ammonia concentration in rivers and lakes, i.e. organic pollution of rivers and lakes as a result of construction of sewerage systems and commissioning of new urban wastewater treatment plants.
According to the limit values of indicators for metals, in the period 2004–2008, surface inland waters mostly belong to class 1 with respect to zinc and nickel content, and in 2007 and 2008 to class 1 with respect to cadmium content (Figure 2a, b, c). Other metals monitored in the water column (copper, chromium, lead, mercury) are below the detection thresholds of the methods used.
At the majority of monitoring stations, the quality of groundwater corresponds with class 1 (Figure 3). Deviations from the planned class of groundwater were mostly due to nutrients and microbiological indicators. Nitrate pollution in groundwater, which is monitored pursuant to the Ordinance [2] that stipulates the maximum allowed concentration (MAC) of nitrates in groundwater of 50 mg NO3/L, varies by river basin (Figure 4). Settlements are mostly supplied with abstracted groundwater (90 % of the total quantities), and thus their protection is of special importance.
]]>Water is not scarce in Belgium and water supply is generally continuous and of good quality. Nevertheless, Belgium still faces major water pollution challenges because of intensive agriculture (use of pesticides and nitrogenous fertilisers is among the highest in the OECD), industrial activity and densely populated areas. A large and increasing proportion of groundwater aquifers have high levels of nitrates and pesticides. Besides, wastewater treatment has long lagged behind. Thanks to the concerted effort of the three Belgian regions, industrial discharges to water continued to decline and the share of the population connected to a wastewater treatment plant grew from 42 % to 69 % between 2000 and 2007. As a result, the concentration of pollutants in many surface waters dropped, and aquatic life became more abundant. Moreover, further reforms in the financing of water infrastructure led to a more consistent application of the polluter pays principle. Overall, Belgium's pricing policy reflects the fact that water is an economic commodity with a social dimension.
1 Belgium's three regions bear most of the responsibility for fresh water management, whereas the federal government is responsible for protection of the North Sea and for setting product standards.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, added, 'Further improvement to Europe's bathing water quality requires citizen involvement. This means, first and foremost, finding out and understanding the current state of our environment and then demanding cleaner water from relevant authorities. Our web-based tools provide citizens easy access to environmental information as well as a platform to voice their observations.'
Efforts to improve the quality of bathing waters should be seen in the context of Europe's efforts to achieve good ecological and environmental status in accordance with the EU Water and Marine Framework Directives.
Of the 20 000 bathing areas monitored throughout the European Union in 2009, two‑thirds were on the coast and the rest were at rivers and lakes. Compliance with mandatory values (minimum quality requirements) at coastal sites increased from 80 % in 1990 to 96 % in 2009. For inland waters, the increase was even greater, rising from 52 % to 90 %.
Between 2008 and 2009 there was a slight deterioration in the number of bathing waters meeting minimum standards, with reductions of less than 1 percentage point (pp) for coastal sites and 3 pps for inland bathing waters. Compliance with the more stringent 'guide values' between 2008 and 2009 increased by slightly less than 1 pp for coastal sites to reach 89 % but decreased by less than 3 pps for inland waters to 71 %. Such annual fluctuations are not unusual by the standards of recent years.
Almost all the coastal bathing sites in Cyprus, France, Greece and Portugal complied with the more stringent guide values [1]. Only 2 % of EU coastal bathing sites were banned in 2009, mostly in Italy. Although inland bathing sites show greater variation in water quality, a large majority of the inland sites in Finland, France, Germany and Sweden also complied with guide values.
To determine their quality, bathing waters are tested against a number of physical, chemical and microbiological parameters. Member States must comply with the mandatory values set out in the Bathing Water Directive [2] but may choose instead to adhere to the stricter (non-binding) guide values.
In 2006 a new Bathing Water Directive [3] took effect, which updated the parameters and monitoring provisions in line with the latest scientific knowledge. The new Directive places greater emphasis on providing information to the public on the quality of bathing areas. Member States have until 2015 to implement the new Directive fully but fourteen Member States (Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden) already monitored their bathing areas during the 2009 bathing season according to the new Directive's requirements .
[1] Delays in commissioning the monitoring programme in Greece meant that 830 bathing waters monitored in 2008 were not adequately monitored in 2009 and are excluded from the overall European results.
[2] Directive 76/160/EEC on the quality of bathing water
[3] Directive 2006/7/EC on the management of bathing water quality
]]>All these waters have their own characteristics and environmental problems. The climatic conditions of the catchment area, for example rain, bedrock geology and soil type all influence the water flow and the mineral content of the water. Similarly, human activity affects surface water and groundwater through afforestation, urbanisation, land drainage, pollutant discharge and flow regulation (i.e. dams and channelisation).
The assessment of the environmental state of European surface waters comprises the collection and aggregation of a huge amount of information. It serves four purposes:
Reliable, high quality information about the environmental state of surface waters is essential for water management and for improving the environmental quality of Europe's waters, especially in relation to the Water Framework Directive.
Monitoring and assessment of the environmental state of European waters are performed by numerous regional and national authorities. Results from national monitoring programmes and monitoring at river basin district scale under the Water Framework Directive are the most important ways of getting an overview of Europe's water quality and the pressures affecting the quality.
The EEA has outlined the following types of state of the environment (SOE) assessments of Europe's waters to be carried out:
The EEA data and information needs for SOE assessments of Europe's waters come exclusively from national monitoring networks set up for a variety of purposes, e.g. for the Water Framework Directive. The monitoring network established by the EEA with its member countries is further described in Eionet-water.
The following pages describe:


text:
- 1 1/2 1.5 1.5cups CUP_USVolumewhole milk
- 1/2 .5 .5cup CUP_USVolumeheavy cream
- 1/2 .5 .5cup CUP_USVolumesugar
- 1 1 1vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise, scrape inside
- 2/3 .66 .66cup CUP_USVolumeFresh Ricotta Cheese (see "Desserts")
- 2 1/2 2.5 2.5gelatin leaves or 1 1/4 teaspoons gelatin powder, softened in a bowl of tap water
- 1/2 .5 .5cup CUP_USVolumeheavy cream, whipped
- 2 2 2tablespoons TABLESPOON_USVolumeminced Sweet Preserved Lemon Peel (see "Desserts")
- 1 1 1pound POUNDWeightassorted fresh berries
- 2 2 2cups CUP_USVolumeFresh Raspberry Puree (see "Sauces & Dressings")
Instructions for Panna Cotta with Sweet Preserved Lemon Peel Recipe
- In a saucepan, combine the milk, heavy cream, and sugar. With a small, sharp knife, carefully split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. With the knife tip, scrape the seeds from inside each half into the pan; add the pod halves, too. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and whisk in the ricotta. Place a heatproof bowl inside a larger bowl filled with ice. Pour the hot mixture through a strainer into the bowl. Discard the vanilla bean halves.
- Drain the gelatin and slowly whisk it into the cooling mixture. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Lastly, fold in the minced Sweet Preserved Lemon Peel.
- In the bottoms of each of 8 chilled martini glasses, arrange 1/4 cup of mixed berries. Divide the panna cotta mixture evenly among the 8 glasses. Smooth the tops and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Over the surface of each serving, pour about 2 ounces of the Fresh Raspberry Puree, covering the panna cotta completely. Refrigerate until the panna cottas are completely set, at least 1 hour more. Serve chilled.

subset: commoncrawl


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