The status of surface water and groundwater

In order to understand the functioning of aquatic environments and determine their status, France has since the 1970s significantly developed monitoring and assessment systems, not only for the chemical parameters of water, but also the biological and hydromorphological ones. These efforts were further boosted by the adoption of the Water framework directive (WFD)1 that set the objective of achieving good water status and, to that end, has reinforced monitoring requirements and attempted to harmonise European assessment methods for water status.
The increase in the available knowledge has made it possible to improve assessments, but above all contributed to better identifying and implementing the measures required to restore and preserve aquatic resources.