MANAGING THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE STRESSORS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS UNDER WATER SCARCITY

Informazioni relative al progetto

GLOBAQUA

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 603629

Progetto chiuso

Data di avvio 1 Febbraio 2014

Data di completamento 31 Gennaio 2019

Finanziato da

• Specific Programme "Cooperation": Environment (including Climate Change)

Costo totale € 9 985 396,08

Contributo UE € 7 590 585,60

Coordinato da

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Spain

Final Report Summary - GLOBAQUA (MANAGING THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE STRESSORS ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS UNDER WATER SCARCITY)

Executive Summary:
WP1 (Data management) was focused on (a) the creation of a Data Base accessible by internet to the consortium to gather the experimental data generated within the project; (b) the provision of relevant historical data regarding climate, hydrology (quality and quantity) and geomorphology required by the concerned WPs to identify relevant multi-stressors situations across study sites and (c) the implementation of an interactive internet platform (Water-Hub) facilitating the connection to existing sources of information of potential relevance to GLOBAQUA.

WP2 (Climate and socio-economic scenarios) provides other GLOBAQUA modelling groups with data for scenario analyses. WP2 processed climate projections for all the GARBs at a high spatial resolution. Spatially distributed maps of future land and water uses were simulated for two opposed scenarios, the economy friendly MYOPIC and the SUSTAINABLE scenario, for which modeling information such as water demand and agricultural practices was elaborated. Existing Programmes of Measures were adapted to fit them.

WP3 (Hydrological analysis) assessed the impact of hydrological and anthropogenic stressors on both water availability and quality at four selected European river basins. Analysis was conducted with reference to historical and future scenarios by employing a suite of response models to simulate the relationship between the observed changes and the pressures identified for each case study. Alterations of water quality and quantity together with their trends have been evidenced.

WP4 (Geomorphological analysis): Suspended sediments represent an integral signal of sediments transported in a river system. Particle-related pollutant concentrations of many hydrophobic organic contaminants as well as some metals in river basins could be linked – on a very general level – to land-use (urban/industrial), hydrology (sediment flux, return periods of events), or to re-mobilisation of legacy contamination. Metal concentrations, however, often mainly display geogenic background. River basins with low sediment yields are more vulnerable with respect to increased concentrations of particle related pollutants.

WP5 (Chemical stressors analysis): The results demonstrated that variable environmental conditions have significant influence on the fate and behaviour of inorganic and organic micro-contaminants in the GLOBAQUA river basins. Contaminants associated with the particulate and organic matter were significantly increased after flood events, while under drought conditions, higher environmental burden of dissolved and nano-sized contaminants was observed.

WP6 (Biological quality under multiple stressors): Species provide different roles for the functioning of the ecosystem. Ecosystems that are richer in species have more alternative ways to maintain the ecosystem stability under a perturbation. WP6 objectives directly address biodiversity-stressor relationships, evaluating effects and providing response models. Biodiversity mainly responds to hydromorphological changes and pollution and the intensity of the effects depends on local characteristics. Management and policy recommendations should adapt to local conditions.

WP7 (Ecosystem stressors analysis): Ecosystem processes (e.g. nutrient retention, metabolism, organic matter breakdown) are good indicators of the response of river ecosystem health to multiple environmental stressors (e.g. water scarcity, chemical pollution, hydromorphological alterations). However, these functional variables are rarely used, and their response to stressors is complex and can vary depending on the function considered. Findings and tools developed in WP7 are highly valuable for an integrated management of rivers that considers both structure and functioning.

WP8 (Integrated modelling for ecosystem services): Global Change will impact freshwater-related ecosystem services, especially in Mediterranean river basins. Water provisioning can decrease up to 30-40% in the next 2 decades unless mitigation measures are implemented. The impact of Global Change on nutrient loads will be partly attenuated by the regulating service water purification, which is expected to increase between 4 and 20% in European river basins.

WP9 (Methodology for socioeconomic management): This WP identified the costs and benefits related to the use of water, developed the methodology for assessing the value of goods and services provided by water ecosystems and for an integrated sustainable management of water resources, built and quantified different socio-economic scenarios with regards to GARBS ecosystems, assessed the recovery of water use costs and the measures put forward to address total costs of water use and proposed a set of socio-economic tools for achieving sustainable management of water resources. The output and deliverables of this WP corresponded directly to WFD’s Article 5 and 9 and Annex III.

WP10 (Economic valuation of ecosystem services): The survey revealed that the most important ecosystem services are drinking and irrigation water resources, nature and biodiversity. Citizens perceive many different pressures to be negatively affecting ecosystem services. Most citizens support the proposed protection measures except for the construction of dams.

WP11 (Integrated model framework): We propose a framework supporting river basin management including quantified indicators and an optimization tool to provide the Water Framework Directive with a solid analytical basis (assessment of pressures and impacts, and reliable assessment of status of water bodies) to identify the most cost-effective combination of measures to achieve the objectives, to justify exemptions, and to plan effective investments.

WP12 (Water management policy): Policy analysis identified how current EU water policy account for multiple pressures and water scarcity. The analysis of the WFD implementation showed the need for the improvements in water management and policies and informed GLOBAQUA research. Barriers and constraints were investigated at multiple levels. Recommendations were delivered: A) for the adaptation of EU water policies; B) ways to improve management; C) for bridging the gap between scientific disciplines and the science-policy gap.

WP13 (Dissemination): To ensure dissemination of the results and to create interest and to raise awareness among relevant stakeholders, several activities were developed considering different types of target audience. In particular: 1 project website, 10 newsletters, 5 factsheets, 11 press release, 6 videos, 3 workshops 3 conferences, 6 training courses and 1 e-learning course. Results were included in 200 scientific papers and presented at relevant conferences through 256 oral and 99 poster presentations.

Project Context and Objectives:
Water is one of the most essential natural resources, and water-related services are major components of human wellbeing and socio-economic development. Currently freshwater systems are under threat by a variety of stressors. Although the interaction between stressors can result in complex effects on organisms and ecosystems, little is known beyond the described effects of single stressors on the chemical and ecological status of water bodies and on their ecosystem functionality. This lack of knowledge limits our capacity to understand ecosystem responses to multiple stressors. Water scarcity is a key stressor in many river ecosystems as it tends to exacerbate the detrimental effects of other stressors. It is a serious environmental problem in many European regions that will likely increase in the near future as a consequence of augmented abstraction and climate change, and will force managers and policy-makers to change their current practices. Within this context, GLOBAQUA approached this problem by assembling multidisciplinary perspectives that encompass climate, hydrology, chemistry, ecology, ecotoxicology, economy, sociology and modelling in order to study the interaction of multiple stressors within the frame of strong pressure on water resources. The aim was to identify the interaction among stressors under water scarcity in order to improve the knowledge on relationships among multiple stressors and attain a better understanding of how current management practices and policies could be improved. In order to achieve this, GLOBAQUA studied 5 river basins (GARBs: Ebro, Adige, Sava, Evrotas, Anglian) and a regional aquifer (Souss Massa) where water scarcity is a present or potential issue. The project was organised in 14 work-packages (WP), grouped in 5 main modules. Considering this structure, the project pursued the following objectives:

1. To understand the effects of water scarcity on the impacts of multiple stressors and predict how these interactions will be altered according to different future scenarios (Module 1-STRESSORS): WP1-DATA collects existing data from basin authorities and research projects. WP2-SCENARIOS generates climatic, socioeconomic and land-use scenarios to provide drivers for the following impact modelling. WP3-HYDROL, WP4-GEOMORPH and WP5-QUALITYCHEM analyse surface and groundwater hydrological patterns, sediment and pollutant transport, physical habitat and pollutants. The main objectives by WP are:
• WP1: Implementation of an interactive internet platform (Water-Hub) to connect existing databases concerned with water phenomenological data of potential relevance to GLOBAQUA
• WP2: The provision of downscaled and bias-corrected climate projections for four GARBsand very high-resolution climate data for one GARB (Adige); Future spatially distributed land and water use simulations are developed for two of the GLOBAQUA scenarios (MYOPIC and SUSTAINABLE) for all GLOBAQUA case studies.
• WP3: Analysis of existing trends in water quality and quantity and simulations of the future water quantity and quality in the GARBs catchments by means of an ensemble of hydrological models; identification of hydro-bio-geochemical modelling approaches to support experimental analyses on the impact of multi-stress factors in the freshwater aquatic ecosystems under investigation.
• WP4: The identification of sediment/pollutant related stressors in GARBs and beyond and the linking of these stressors to proxies referring to land-use (urban/agricultural/industrial), hydrology (discharge, sediment flux), climate (precipitation) or other parameters (reservoirs), and subsequent formulation of practical recommendations concerning assessment of sediment/pollutant related pressure/stressor relationships.
• WP5: Sampling at Sava, Adige, Evrotas and Ebro rivers for basin specific micro contaminants (nutrients, potentially toxic elements and organic compounds) analysis. Set up of the effect of environmental factors on in-stream attenuation of micro contaminants (in lab conditions and seleced river courses) and the data analysis of emerging contaminants: identification of chemical multi-stress hot-spots, fate of contaminants under multiple-stress conditions, and a dynamic prioritization list of emerging contaminants.

2. To analyse the consequences of oncoming changes on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (Module 2-RECEPTORS): Observational and experimental data is combined to analyse the effects of nutrients, contaminants, degraded physical habitat and water scarcity on river biodiversity (WP6-BIOL) and ecosystem functioning (WP7-ECOSYSTEM). The main objectives by WP are:
• WP6: Data analysis of the biodiversity-stressor relationships, evaluating how species diversity is affected by different stressors alone or in combination and providing response models according to the pressures identified in GARBs. Identification of the occurrence and dynamics of invasive species and pathogens and forecasted the risk of their dispersion, establishment, and associated impacts.
• WP7: To develop a toolbox for the assessment of river ecosystem functioning, to analyse the historical changes in the metabolism of the Ebro River, and to conduct several experiments on the interactive effects of urban pollution and water scarcity on river ecosystem functioning.

3. To analyse the effects of water scarcity on ecosystem services and its implications on the socio-economic development of the case study regions (Module 3-IMPLICATIONS): WP8-SERVICES incorporate results from the previous modules in integrative models to simulate the effects of multiple stressors on ecosystem properties and services. WP9-SOCIOECON and WP10-VALUATION provide with an economic and social valuation of the ecosystem services taking into account users’ perspective. The main objectives by WP are:
• WP8: to estimate the effects of Global Change on freshwater-related ecosystem services in the 4 river basins considered in GLOBAQUA, and to estimate the effects of multiple stressors on freshwater ecosystems and their associated services.
• WP9: A review of the reported cost elements by member states in relation to the WFD, the development of a choice experiment to elicit the value placed on water by its beneficiaries in the GARBs, and a review of both the first and second round of Programmes of Measures of the GARBs.
• WP10: The analysis of the 6 workshop in 6 case study area, producing a report on stakeholder’s perception and understanding of preliminary scenarios, ecosystem valuation, land use management, and socio-economic characterization, evolution of trends for managing the effects of multiple stressor on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity.

4. To explore how to adapt management and policies to minimise the ecological, economical and societal consequences of global change (Module 4-ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT): WP11-INTEGRATION and WP12-POLICY integrate the results of the other modules to define a manageable perspective of water scarcity in order to fill the communication gap in the Science-Policy Interface.
• WP11: Generation of relevant indicators for the case studies, the optimization of measures to minimize effects of stressors, and start the upscaling to basin scale and pan-European scale. Developing a proof-of-concept for the use of an online optimization tool.
• WP12: Establish how current water management practices and policies could be improved by accounting better for the interaction of multiple stressors within the frame of strong pressure on water resources. WP12 will deliver recommendations to improve the implementation of EU water policies, will secure the user perspective from the river basin cases by bridging the science-policy gap and will transfer GLOBAQUA policy-relevant results to river basin managers.

5. To communicate the results to target groups, and stimulate the use of results through relations with stakeholders and end-users (Module 5-PROJECT COORDINATION AND DISSEMINATION): WP13-DISSEMINATION ensures the communication of the project results to researchers, policy makers, water managers, etc. and WP14-MANAGE seeks to coordinate project activities.

Project Results:
1. WP1: Data management (DATA)
WP1-DATA aims at the management of data and information either generated by the project or obtained from external sources by the respective WPs, in order to facilitate achieving their goals. Whereas WP1 does not perform research activities by itself, it gives support to all WPs and more specifically to: WP2-SCENARIOS, WP3-HYDROL, WP4-GEOMORPH, WP5-QUALITYCHEM, WP6-BIOL, WP7-ECOSYSTEM, WP8-SERVICES.
According to the set objectives, the outcomes of WP1 can be summarized as follows:
1.1. Creation of an internal Data Base
Main result:
• The design and implementation of the project Data Base accessible by internet to the consortium to gather the experimental data generated within the project.
1.2. Provision of historical data
Provision of relevant historical data regarding climate, hydrology (quality and quantity) and geomorphology required by the concerned WPs to identify relevant multi-stressors situations across study sites (Adige, Ebro, Evrotas, and Sava).
Main results:
• An sftp server for the transfer of large climate model-related datasets (a few Tb) has been set up by SMHI partner. Access to the server is provided by request to individual institutions.
• Creation and implementation of a Repository of documents containing historical information relative to the specific River Basins, accessible to the consortium from the project intranet.
1.3 Implementation of an interactive internet platform (Water-Hub)
Implementation of an interactive internet platform (Water-Hub) to connect existing databases concerned with water phenomenological data of potential relevance to GLOBAQUA. In particular, those already created under different FP6 and FP7 research projects and others created by reliable institutions, such as water authorities etc. The platform will not introduce an additional central repository of information but just a set of web references.
Main results are:
• Compilation of relevant websites of interest relative to the different GRABS
• Conceptual design of the Text-based Searching Platform
• Launch of a prototype of the “Water-Hub platform” accessible from the project website

2. WP2: Climate and socio-economic scenarios (SCENARIOS)
2.1 Climate data and climate trends
Three regional climate simulations out of the large EURO-CORDEX ensemble were chosen for analyses in GLOBAQUA. They were bias-corrected and statistically downscaled to represent the actual climate more accurately; they were selected to largely cover the heterogeneity of climate projections for the GARBs.
A warming of 1.5-2.5 °C in 2035-2065 compared to 1981-2010) is projected across all four case study basins, and there is high level of confidence on the projected changes in temperature: all individual simulations agree on this increase. At the same time, projected future changes in precipitation are more dispersed across the GLOBAQUA basins for the 2050 horizon. There is more confidence on future climate changes for the Ebro and Evrotas catchments, where a small but consistent reduction in precipitation is evident (about 10% in 2035-2060), while a more pronounced reduction in precipitation is simulated towards the end of the century (about 20% in 2071-2100). For the Adige and Sava catchments there are larger uncertainties in projected changes of precipitation. Slightly wetter conditions are projected over the entire basins for the horizon 2050 (up to 5%), The hydrological consequences (total runoff) of projected climate changes in temperature and precipitation mainly follow the conclusions stated above for precipitation. A decrease in runoff for Ebro and Evrotas is evident for the 2050 horizon and becomes stronger towards the end of the century. These changes point towards possible future challenges on water resources and possibly a risk of further water scarcity and increased droughts in these basins. In the Adige and Sava basins, in contrast, a weak increase in total runoff is evident for the 2050 horizon.
2.2. Programmes of Measures (PoMs) and socio-economic scenarios
Socio-economic scenarios for GLOBAQUA were developed based on the Shared-Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) which were linked to Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), both promoted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This resulted in two scenarios, MYOPIC (RCP 8.5 - SSP5) and SUSTAINABLE (RCP 4.5 - SSP1) used to explore different futures.
There is still a marked gap in terms of linking the PoMs with the identified pressures in the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs). There is also a marked lack of consistency in the presentation of the PoMs across the different RBMPs, with some providing very little detail with regards to specific measures, while others include scope and location of the various measures. The outlook of the economic measures for water management in the SUSTAINABLE scenario is positive. In the MYOPIC scenario this outlook is moderately negative.
2.3. Land and water use scenarios
The climate and socio-economic scenarios were incorporated in the land use simulations as well as the results from local stakeholder workshops. The intensification of agriculture is foreseen in the MYOPIC scenario across all the GARBs. In the Ebro, there is a dramatic shift from non-irrigated to irrigated agriculture while the SUSTAINABLE scenario shows a decrease in both classes. In the Adige, non-irrigated agriculture grows in the SUSTAINABLE scenario as formerly abandoned farmlands are reactivated. In the Sava, non-irrigated agriculture is expected to grow in both scenarios, especially in the MYOPIC one. Forest and shrub cover are expected to increase in all GARBs for the SUSTAINABLE and decrease in the MYOPIC scenario.
The final land use maps were further used to obtain future water use maps for the two scenarios by combining them with RBMP statistics and adapting them to the prior defined scenario specific changes in water use in a GARB. The total water consumption generally increases for the MYOPIC while it shrinks for the SUSTAINABLE scenario. Still, the water use efficiency increases in both scenarios, which means that less water per area is used. For the Adige, Ebro and Evrotas, the largest amount of water is consumed for irrigation. The 30% rise in the MYOPIC scenario in the Ebro is based on the changes reported in the RBMP 2015-2021, which expects an increase of 27.5% of water used for irrigation until the year 2033.

3. WP3: Hydrological analysis (HYDROL)
WP3 analyzed hydrological and water quality alterations in four European rivers with different characteristics, such as to cover Mediterranean, Alpine and continental climates. The evolution in time of hydrological and water quality alterations has been studied by means of an in deep analysis of recorded data and future scenarios, developed within the WP2, have been used to project these changes in the future period 2036-2065. Main results can be summarized as follows.
3.1. Water quality alterations
Trends in water quality parameters of Ebro, Sava and Adige, three rivers with different hydro-climatic and socio-economical conditions, have been linked to the main drivers of change. Dissolved oxygen was observed to reduce in all the rivers in the period 1990-2015 and this is partially due to the rise of water temperature induced by the contemporaneous rise of air temperature. Ebro showed an increase of chloride concentration and electrical conductivity, most likely due to streamflow reduction. Increase in population was identified as the major cause of the increase of chloride concentration and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the Adige and Sava rivers, and of phosphates in the Adige river, whereas phosphates in the Sava and BOD in the Ebro were found to be highly correlated with agricultural land use.
GREEN model has been implemented to perform annual Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) export scenarios under future climatic and land use scenarios in the Adige, Ebro, Sava and Evrotas river basins. Two-land use change scenarios were adopted (one identified as myopic, i.e. “business-as-usual”, and one identified as sustainable). The scenarios averaged a 30-year time window projection (2036-2065). The myopic scenario lead to an increase of TN and TP exports in all basins except for the Evrotas where drastic reductions in rainfall patterns leads to a projected increase of nutrient retention. Meanwhile the sustainable scenario does non show significant changes in the Adige and Evrotas, and to a reduction of TN and TP esports in the Ebro main stem. Finally, for Sava, both the myopic and the sustainable scenarios suggested a slight NT and TP annual export increase.
3.2. Streamflow alterations
Time series analyses performed during the period 1971-2010 showed substantial changes of streamflow especially in the Ebro, which suggests that this semi-arid river basin is at risk of severe water scarcity due to changing climate. In contrast, the results of the trend analyses do not point to diminishing water resources in the alpine Adige. With an alpine flow regime in its upper course, turning to a continental one, in its middle and lower course, the Save river shows characteristics similar to both the Adige and Ebro. Overall, these findings suggest that Mediterranean catchments are prone to a drier climate and declining water resources apart from the alpine catchments in the north of the Mediterranean region, where evaporative losses due to higher temperatures are less severe and might be counterbalanced by increased precipitations.
Future projections of streamflow alterations were generated by using a set of calibrated hydrological models coupled with 6 future climate scenarios for the meteorological forcing during the period 2041-2070. These scenarios are the combination of three Regional Climatic Models (RCMs) and two greenhouse gas concentration trajectories (Representative Concentration Pathways: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). In the Adige all scenarios projected a minor streamflow increase in the winter months and a sensible reduction in summer. In the Ebro basin, the scenario outputs changed slightly in function of the selected RCM, and all scenarios resulted in a significant streamflow reduction (up to 75% for annual mean flow). Similar results have been obtained for the Sava, with a 50% reduction of the mean streamflow. Although projections are affected by uncertainty their value is large enough to conclude that, according to the climate scenarios, these river basins will be affected in the future by streamflow reductions.
3.3. Hyporheic exchange
The analysis of hyporheic exchanges evidenced that the hyporheic zone plays an important role in denitrification, removal and transformation of contaminants in general. In particular, the analysis showed that hyporheic zone plays an important role in controlling N2O emissions from rivers, which are a significant portion of the global emissions of this important greenhouse gas, with a greenhouse effect 300 time larger than that of CO2.

4. WP4: Geomorphological analysis (GEOMORPH)
4.1: Sediment fluxes, sediment yield & river/sediment morphology
Sediment yields may be estimated from empirically based equations - calibrated by measurements of sediment transport, e.g. using turbidity probes or by measurement of the sediment mass retained within reservoirs (demonstrated in Ebro/sub-catchments). Sediment yields may also be calculated based on erosion models (soil loss, see Figure 1) coupled to estimates of the sediment delivery ratio - calibrated based on on-line turbidity measurements (demonstrated for catchments in Germany; not suited for catchments where reservoirs are present).
For the hydrophysical characterization of the hyporheic zone – the most important reactive compartment in terms of the degradation potential of emerging pollutants in rivers as e.g. pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, household chemical products, pesticides, etc –geophysical techniques as time-lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) monitoring have proven to be suitable techniques, as demonstrated in the Adige/Noce catchment.
4.2: Pollutant concentrations
Event sampling (sampling of high discharge events) has proven to be a suitable tool for assessing particle-bound and dissolved concentrations/fluxes for hydrophobic organic pollutants such as PAH and metals. Concentrations on suspended particles (CSUS) may be derived from linear regressions of the total concentrations in river water CW,tot vs. the total suspended solids concentrations (TSS), where the dissolved concentration CW corresponds to the intercept and CSUS to the slope of the regression line. CSUS and CW may also be measured directly from filtered samples/filtrates. Loading of suspended particles with hydrophobic organic pollutants and metals has shown to be fairly catchment specific and rather stable over time but varies by orders of magnitude in European catchments. Elevated sediment-related pollutant concentrations for PAH, PCB in urbanized areas may often be related to frequent sewer overflows during high precipitations events or to legacy compounds (re-mobilized e.g. at formerly contaminated sites). During pronounced discharge events concentrations of selected hydrophobic organic pollutants in bulk water samples (e.g. fluoranthene, HCH, others) might exceed allowable maximum concentrations (MAC EQS) according to Directive 2013/39/EU. Due to the fact that suspended sediments represent a mixture and thus an integral signal of sediments transported in a river system, sampling of suspended sediments gives much more reliable results with respect to sediment related pollutants compared to sediment grab samples which are typically more affected by heterogeneity.
4.3: Pollutant-/sediment related proxies
Loading of suspended particles with hydrophobic pollutants such as PAH, PCB mainly depends on urban pressure (expressed, e.g. as number of inhabitants) divided by sediment yield. This means that catchments and river basins with low sediment yields are more vulnerable with respect to increased concentrations of hydrophobic pollutants on sediments. Metal concentrations on suspended sediments mainly depend on geological background and are in general much less variable compared to the organic compounds. Cross-comparison with known urban pressure/sediment yield relationships (e.g. for PAHs) or soil background values (for metals) allows for identification of anthropogenic impacts (e.g. industrial inputs).
4.4: Pollutant/sediment fluxes
Sediment fluxes in rivers – and thus also sediment-related pollutant fluxes –are very dynamic: e.g. in small-intermediate sized catchments a major proportion of the particle flux may occur within only a few % of the observed time period (examples from SW German catchments: 90 % sediment flux in 5-10 % of observed time). Turbidity – the cloudiness of water due to suspended solids - has proven to be a reliable proxy for suspended sediment concentrations in rivers. On-line turbidity probes may thus be used for monitoring of sediment fluxes and sediment related pollutant fluxes. Particle facilitated transport of a pollutant species dominates if the distribution coefficient Kd - the ratio of concentration on suspended sediments versus the freely dissolved concentration (CSUS/CW; e.g. in l kg-1) is larger than the water to solids ratio in the river (i.e. the inverse of TSS; also in l kg-1). If the Kd equals the water to solids ratio, 50% of the pollutant flux occurs bound to particles.

5. WP5: Chemical stressors analysis (QUALITYCHEM)
5.1. Identification of chemical multi-stress hot-spots in GLOBAQUA river basins
The river basins investigated differ significantly regarding size, climate, precipitation, hydrological conditions, density of riparian population and anthropogenic activities. The results demonstrated that variable river flow conditions like floods and droughts had significant influence on the occurrence, behaviour and fate of micro contaminants in the riverine eco systems. The pollution patterns in general indicate on point pollution. The identified “hot spots” were associated mainly to specific sources from industrial, urban, touristic and agricultural activities. The main outcomes from the two general sampling campaigns were:
• Large differences have been observed between the two sampling campaigns. This was evident especially for Sava, mainly due to extreme (heavy floods in 2014) hydrological conditions.
• In general, water was more polluted by priority and emerging organic contaminants in 2014 than 2015, while the opposite observation was found for sediments.
• Regarding potentially toxic elements (PTE), both water and sediments appeared more polluted in 2014 than 2015. This observation suggests that pollutants associated to particulate and organic matter are during high water flows partially remobilized from sediment into overlying waters, which compensates dilution effects.
• Personal care products (PCP’s) and pharmaceutical compounds (PhAc’s) are the families of pollutants which exhibited the highest contribution to organic pollution in the water phase, while persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and brominated flame retardants (FR’s) were the highest contributors in sediments.
5.2. Effect of environmental variables on the transformation pathways of pollutants
The results from event-driven samplings and simulated environmental conditions in the laboratory experiments, indicate that environmental variables have significant influence on transformation pathways of pollutants. The main outcomes from the field and laboratory experiments are:
• Perturbation of sediments during big floods and flash floods remobilized contaminants into overlying waters. Consequently, potentially toxic elements (PTE) associated with the particulate and organic matter (Sava, Evrotas) and organic contaminants (PCBs, DDTs, OPFRs, HBDEs, PBCDs) in the Cinca River (Ebro tributary) were significantly increased during flooding conditions in the overlying waters.
• Under drought conditions the dissolved contents of PTE in Sava and Evrotas water were in general higher than during high water discharges.
• In the Sava River water fullerenes (C60 and C70) were determined during drought conditions in 5 times higher concentrations than under high water discharges (high dilution factor). Similar behaviour was observed for inorganic nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) in Sava water, which were higher under drought conditions.
• The in-stream attenuation of microcontaminants was successfully studied only in the small river Evrotas, were a decrease of individual concentrations of detected PhACs was measured in relationship to the increasing travel time between the input and output of the river segment under study. PhACs have shown generally higher elimination rates due to a longer residence time of substances within the river and lower flow velocity of the surface water, while PhACs with short half-life times (i.e. valsartan, hydrochlorthiazide, carbamazepine) showed higher in-stream attenuation rates in comparison to PhACs with longer half-life times (i.e. naproxen). The Lagrangian sampling approach did not work neither for the big Sava River nor for middle size Adige River.
• A collaborative field experiment in Evrotas during 2016-2017 conducted for assessing the combined effect of flow intermittency and olive oil mill pollution on biota and ecosystem functioning, demonstrated that concentration of phenols in sediments seems to be a reliable proxy for pollution from olive mill wastewaters.
• The mesocosm experimental case study has provided an insight into the understanding of the biofilm biodegradation capacity under flow intermittency and continuous exposure to a mixture of emerging contaminants (ECs). Significant interactions between water flow history and chronic pollution was observed. Permanent flow had negative effects on the rate constants after exposure to ECs, while the rate constants in intermittent flow treatments were not affected by exposure to ECs.
• The extent of methylation of Hg to MeHg in Sava sediments was low.
• Bioaccumulation of Hg was observed in river mussels in low extent. In fish from the lower stretch of the Sava River bioaccumulation and biomagnification of emerging and toxic compounds (Hg/MeHg and dioxin-like substances) was evident in bigger and predator fish, respectively.
5.3 Prioritization of contaminants
A prioritization of selected contaminants for Sava, Adige and Evrotas rivers was performed using the NORMAN prioritization method.
• Typically >50 compounds were detected per site indicating that the targeted chemicals generally occur in mixtures in the environment and likely originate from a variety of animal and human uses and waste sources.
• In the Adige River, the highest relevance is found for contaminants of urban origin such as pharmaceuticals belonging to the families of: psychiatric drugs likecarbamazepine and venlafaxine, anti-inflammatories like diclofenac and ibuprofen, and antibiotics like clarithromycin.
• In the Evrotas River, the highest relevance is found for contaminants of agricultural urban origin such as the herbicides irgarol, diflufenican and 2,4-D, and insecticides like azinphos ethyl, methiocarb, thiacloprid and diazinon.
• In the Sava River, the mixture of compounds showing highest relevance is composed of contaminants of industrial origin together with those of agricultural and urban origin. Compounds considered relevant belong to the families of insecticides, herbicides, PCBs, PAHs, anti-inflammatory drugs and perfluorinated compounds.

WP6: Biological quality under multiple stressors (BIOL)
6.1. Effects on biodiversity
Species richness and diversity were mainly explained by changes in hydrology (e.g. mean discharge, intermittency) and in the basin and reach morphology (e.g. land uses, channel transformation, substrate type). The presence of pharmaceutical products (urban pollution) and pesticides was also related to lower species richness.
We found significant relationships between trait composition, functional diversity and community specialisation and environmental variables describing hydromorphological alteration, urbanization and pollution.
Urban pollution reduced species trait diversity resulted in the homogenization of communities and consequently with a reduction of the different functions species give to the river ecosystem. Different species trait combinations define community tolerance to specific stressors. The higher anthropogenic pollution the higher concentration of antibiotic resistant genes in the rivers.
Sub-superficial water is a protecting habitat for benthic organisms, however, pollution from waste water effluents collapse this habitat and compromise its use for species refuge.
6.2. Effects of combined stressors
The interaction between pollution and water scarcity changed composition and abundance of bacteria, algae, macrophyte, invertebrate and fish and induced a higher frequency of diatom (algae) with anomalous forms. The intensity of community response differed according to the level of pollution, the dilution capacity and the habitat diversity (substrate type) of the receiving river. These responses were similar for different point-source pollution such as WWTP or oil mill waste water.
Water intermittency reduced nutritional quality of organic matter, which, combined with an increase of water temperature affected metabolism, growth and survival of invertebrates. The combination of toxicants (e.g. fungicides and antidepressants) also produced effects on invertebrate behaviour (consumption, swim velocity). Effects on invertebrates can be translated to the food web and determine changes in the energy fluxes at ecosystem level.
Combined stress caused by emerging contaminants (pharmaceuticals) and different nutrient concentrations had a direct effect on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in streambed biofilms.
Most of the effects of stressor combinations on river biofilms were additive.
6.3. Invasive species
Particular physiological traits to resist warm temperature and dry conditions, present in some invasive species, could favour their dispersion and their competition with native species in future climate change conditions.
The invader database has been compiled for Sava. This WP proposes a Risk Assessment procedure and systems of assessment of pressures caused by biological invasions. Three indexes have been approved as effective in this basin for the assessment of the pressures caused by biological invasions.

7. WP7: Ecosystem stressors analysis (ECOSYSTEM)
7.1. A toolbox for measuring river ecosystem functioning
Ecosystem structure refers to characteristics such as channel form, water quality or the composition of biological communities, whereas ecosystem functioning refers to processes such as nutrient retention, metabolism or organic matter decomposition. Structure and functioning respond in contrasting and complementary ways to environmental stressors. Moreover, assessing the response of ecosystem functioning to stressors is critical to understand the effects on the ecosystem services that produce direct benefits to humans. Yet, there is more information on structural than on functional parameters, and despite the many approaches available to measure river ecosystem processes, structural approaches are more widely used, especially in management. One reason for this discrepancy is the lack of synthetic studies analysing river ecosystem functioning in a way that is useful for both scientists and managers. In WP7, we have developed a synthesis of key river ecosystem processes, providing a description of the main characteristics of each process and including criteria guiding their measurement as well as their respective sensitivity to stressors. The toolbox also contains the current limitations, potential improvements and future steps that the use of functional measures in rivers needs to face.
7.2 Effects of multiple stressors on river ecosystem functioning
River ecosystems are subject to multiple stressors. In WP7, we have conducted several field and laboratory experiments in order to elucidate the response of ecosystem functioning to these processes. We have focused on two stressors (i.e. water scarcity and chemical pollution) by analysing their individual and combines effects. Our results show that several ecosystem processes (e.g. nutrient retention, metabolism, organic matter breakdown) respond to these stressors; however, they also indicate that this response is complex and can vary depending on the function and stressors considered. We showed that point-source pollution (e.g. effluents from waste water treatment plants and olive mills) has mixed effects, as it acts as a subsidy for some responses and as a stressor for others. Low or intermittent stream flow strongly exacerbates the impact of point sources on ecosystem functioning.
7.3 Reconstruction of historical changes in river ecosystem functioning
We computed whole-ecosystem metabolism at 6 reaches of the Ebro River basin (Iberian Peninsula), from long-term, high frequency dissolved oxygen data collected for approximately 15 years. Furthermore, we identified the environmental factors driving temporal changes in metabolism, thus setting the basis for forecasting oncoming changes in river ecosystem functioning according to different scenarios. None of the studied sites showed a significant increasing or decreasing long-term trend for gross primary production (GPP) or ecosystem respiration (ER), thus suggesting no relevant long-term changes in environmental conditions (i.e. climate, land use) affecting ecosystem metabolism. Nevertheless, the highest ER and lowest GPP occurred in 2003 coinciding with the hottest summer on record in Europe. Discharge, turbidity and temperature were the main drivers of river metabolism. Our results show that it is possible to reconstruct historical changes in ecosystem functioning (e.g. stream metabolism) and develop models for future predictions, which can certainly be a very valuable tool for an integrated management of stream networks.

8. WP8: Integrated modelling for ecosystem services (SERVICES)
8.1 Mediterranean areas are more sensitive to global change
Two different storylines, a pro-efficiency business as usual (myopic storyline) and a path towards social and environmental sustainabilities (sustainable storyline), describe two plausible scenarios of global change for the horizon 2050. By combining data from multiple climate, land use/land cover and agricultural management scenarios, and by using the InVEST tool, we modeled water provisioning, water purification and erosion control ecosystem services and in the three South European river basins, which encompass the wide socio-environmental diversity of the region.
Our results indicate that Mediterranean basins (Ebro) are extremely sensitive to global change respect Alpine (Adige) or Continental (Sava) basins, as the Ebro might experience a decrease in water availability up to 40%, whereas the decrease is of only 2–4% in the Adige or negligible in the Sava (Jordà et al. 2019). However, Mediterranean basins are also more sensitive to the implementation of mitigation actions, which would compensate the drop in water provisioning. Results also indicate that the regulating services of water purification and erosion control will gain more relevance in the future, as both services increased between 4 and 20% in both Global change scenarios as a result of the expansion of agricultural and urban areas. Overall, the impact of Global change is diverse among services and across river basins in southern Europe, with the Mediterranean basins as the most vulnerable and the Continental as the least. The implementation of mitigation actions can compensate the impact and therefore deserves full political attention.
8.2 Integrative approaches to modelling
Once aware of the plausible effects of Global change on service provision, we worked on the development of an integrated model at a basin level consisting in four steps. First, a socio-cultural valuation (Iniesta-Arandia et al. 2014), which informs us about the importance and vulnerability of different ecosystem services in the basin for different type of actors. Second, we relate multiple drivers of change to ecosystem services provision through the construction of an innovative matrix that assembles mechanistic and Bayesian models. The starting point of this is a hydrological-biogeochemical model built with Q-SWAT, and different complements can be added with Q-GIS and R. Third, an economic valuation accounts for monetary and non-monetary values of service provision. And fourth, a decision-making tool it is necessary to engage with stakeholders for prosing policy and management actions and co-developing future scenarios to be assessed. For our model in the Algars River basin, we linked multiple drivers of change to ecosystem assets and eventually to ecosystem services and benefits – such as food production, water provisioning, water purification, erosion control, hydropower production, peak storm and flood mitigation, aesthetics and recreation – in order to assess the effects of global change in people’s well-being. We also survey the local people to rank a list of 20 ecosystem services in terms of importance and vulnerability.
The first goal has been fully achieved explaining what the effects of Global Change on freshwater-related ecosystem services will be, as well as on the relevance of implementing mitigation measures or following a business-as-usual trajectory. The second goal has been also achieved, and a socio-environmental model has been developed and calibrated in a sub-basin of the Ebro, and is currently being implemented as the core model of a decision-support system for water managers in follow-up projects.

9. WP9: Methodology for socioeconomic management (SOCIOECON)
WP9 resulted in estimations on how changes in the supply, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, of the important water-related ecosystem services, might affect the socio-economic development in selected GLOBAQUA river basins. The results of this WP correspond directly to WFD’s Article 5 and 9 and Annex III.
9.1. Development of an Integrated Methodology for the Sustainable Environmental and Socioeconomic Management of the Water Resources Ecosystem Services
Within this task WP9 developed a methodology for the sustainable management of water ecosystems that is consistent with the economic principles adopted explicitly by the WFD, the notion of the “Total Economic Value of Water Resources” and the Ecosystem Services Approach to valuing freshwater goods and services to humans. This methodology develops in three discrete steps and can find applications in ecosystems beyond those related to water resources. The approach consists of the: (i) socio-economic characterization of the River Basin area, (ii) assessment of the current recovery of water use cost, and (iii) identification and suggestion of appropriate programs of measures for sustainable water management over space and time. The results show how the effects of multiple stressors and socio-economic development can be quantified in the context of freshwater resources management providing useful insights for scientists, non-experts interested stakeholders and policy makers alike.
9.2. The importance of freshwater ecosystem services to the economy and socio-economic development of the GARBs under the status quo and relevant socio-economic scenarios
The key economic drivers influencing pressures and water uses have been determined under the status quo and in alternative socio-economic scenarios including (a) the general socio-economic indicators, (b) the key sector policies that significantly influence water use, (c) the development of planned investments likely to affect water availability, and (d) the implementation of future policies that is likely to affect water use. Socioeconomic data have been collected for the GARBs. For each case study, the uses of water is analysed along with the obtained socioeconomic information leading to a thorough description of the case study in terms of geomorphological, climate and socio-economic characteristics and a more detailed description of the sectors of the local economy in terms of population, units per sector, water uses per sector and main uncertainties in relation to water management and water pressures.
9.3 Assessment of the current levels of recovery of the costs of water resources ecosystem services and development of the package of socioeconomic measures for achieving full-cost recovery
The public good nature of water means that the market principles for efficient allocation of the resource might not work. Given the missing information on supply costs and the willingness to pay of consumers, it is very difficult to derive a market efficient price which incorporates the social costs and benefits from the use of the resource. Thus, it remains important to estimate the costs and benefits from the use of the resource. The assessment of pricing mechanisms that are in place in the selected GARBS indicates that, despite the efforts to achieve full cost recovery as outlined in the EU WFD, more steps should be taken with regards to achieving full cost recovery. The work completed under this task identifies the set of methodologies and approaches that can be implemented with regards to monetizing the environmental and resource costs associated to water as well as to incorporating them in the final market price (e.g. taxes, subsidies, tradable permits etc.). This task concludes in a set of recommendations on policy alternatives as well as the related costs and benefits so as to develop an optimal approach to efficient water management.
9.4 Economic Assessment of Programme of Measures and Disproportionality Analysis
Full cost recovery links to the welfare economics literature which argues that for maximum economic efficiency, prices should be set equal to the marginal (opportunity) cost. Nevertheless, it is well recognized, both in the scientific literature and in most of national legislations, that implementing full cost recovery may raise social and redistributive concerns which have to be addressed by public authorities. Under this task cost recovery levels in the selected Globaqua case studies and the measures put in place for achieving full cost recovery and sustainable water management have been assessed. The approach employed includes both a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the costs and benefits related to water use and to the measures for achieving full cost recovery. The qualitative assessment contributes to the theoretical debate on the subject and to the formulation of policy recommendations. The quantitative assessment complements the ongoing research on the subject with the collection of primary data and derivation of quantitative results on agents’ perceptions and values of environmental goods and services.

10. WP10: Economic valuation of ecosystem services (VALUATION)
In consultation with case study leaders and other local project partners, an initial list of measures had been discussed and narrowed. The final 24 different measures centered around six groups - agriculture water use - waste water reuse - avoidance and mitigation of pollution- green and grey infrastructure- household water consumption, and – tourism. Each measure addresses one or more pressures. The selected were proposed to the citizens of the river basins through a questionnaire
The survey on citizens’ perception of the environment, ecosystem services and measures was filled in by a total of 420 persons in the eight river basins of the GLOBAQUA project. Throughout the case studies there is very high interest in environmental issues (>95 % in 6 out of 8 river basins). More than 74 % considered the water sources at risk in all river basins except for the Adige river basin. There is a large variation in the perception of water management. In the Sava Serbia (7 %) and Evrotas (9%) river basins the management is worst according to the citizens, while the best managed was perceived in the Adige (88%) and Sava Slovenia (59%) river basins. In each river basin, there is very high conviction (88 – 100 %) that climate change is happening. Most respondents are concerned about climate change and expect to be directly affected by climate change in the future.
Overall, most citizens assign high importance to ecosystem services. The most important ecosystem services have high values regarding quality of live (e.g. drinking and irrigation water resources) and nature and biodiversity. The generally least important ecosystem services are often recognized as having mainly economic prosperity value (like mass tourism). Citizens perceive many different pressures, both coming from human activities and from climate change, to be negatively affecting ecosystem services. The only discernible benefit is that more knowledge will be generated and spread as climate change impacts on the environment become more prominent. Drinking water resources is both the most important ecosystem service and the most negatively impacted by climate change.
A vast majority of citizens support most proposed protection measures. Citizens generally do not support the construction of new dams (due to environmental concerns), and to a lesser extent the limitation of access to groundwater (due to reliance on this resource). Interventions which protect the quality of water resources used for drinking water and irrigation uses, for example by addressing pesticides, fertilisers, and natural areas, are highly supported.
The results of the GLOBAQUA project made clear that the use of a fixed, self-administered survey is useful for data comparison even if it lacks the explanation of why a certain answer was given. It can overcome the time consuming and costly effort of a semi-structured interview and offer hence in turn the possibility to engage a much wider public to provide input and reflections. The presented approach also enabled a reasonable comparison between the 8 different case study areas with their own context in a political economy.
The broad character of the originally proposed measures, as they have been identified in a participatory way, makes it difficult to relate these 24 measures to specific multi stressor impacts. As a consequence, it is rather problematic to link the resulting acceptance of measures to the determination of integrated mitigation plans, that will receive a particular acceptance in the public. The future elaboration of post project communication and policy interaction should utilize info graphics that structurally display the links between ecosystem services prioritized, dominant stressors identified, and related measures. Only then the re-interaction with a wider stakeholder group is sensible and will avoid that the feedback results into a superficial reflection as it naturally to be expected within the first consultation rounds prior to the elaboration of more specific insights by the project. And only then it makes sense to compare or to re-evaluate the stakeholder perceptions on priority services and measures.

11. WP11: Integrated model framework (INTEGRATION)
11.1 Assessment and identification of significant pressures to be managed.
A set of “pressure indicators”, deemed to reflect the impacts of human activities on the ecological status of water bodies, has been developed at EU scale and checked to actually represent well the reported status of EU rivers. Pressure indicators include, among others, pollution by nitrogen and phosphorus, urban runoff, the presence of agriculture and infrastructure in floodplains, and hydrological alteration. Exploration of the relationships between combinations of pressure indicators and the ecological status reported by Member States using statistical/machine learning techniques (logistic regression, random forests, regression trees) enables identifying the most relevant pressures in a river basin, and how addressing more than one pressure in combination yields multiple benefits in terms of ecological status.
The proposed pressure indicators show a clear relationship with the ecological status of water bodies, contributing to the construction of a solid basis for the river basin management plans’ programmes of measures. In addition, pressure indicators have been developed within Globaqua, including organic pollution (concentration of 5-days Biochemical Oxygen Demand or BOD5), river water temperature and concentration of chemical pollutants. Moreover, we have compared and discussed various hydrological alteration indicators.
11.2 Pressure reduction targets.
The systematic analysis of pressure indicators enables identifying relevant pressures that need to be reduced in order to achieve the WFD objectives. Reducing pressures requires first of all to define realistic reduction targets, usually taking into account benefits and costs. These can sometimes be quantified, but often are known in semi-qualitative terms, as they reflect not only monetary costs but also implementation difficulties and uncertainties related to the interests of stakeholders, capacity of the implementers, the political viability of certain decisions etc. In general, we expect trade-offs between the improvement of the status of water bodies due to a reduction of pressures, and the effort (or “generalized cost”) entailed. We developed an approach to calculate the optimal trade-offs (“Pareto front”) based on a multi-criteria evaluation of the effort based on the reduction of water abstractions and polluting emissions from different regions and economic sectors, and the corresponding improvement of the status of water bodies in a river basin.
11.3 Improving the selection of measures that address significant pressures to improve system state.
The analysis of Pareto fronts of status improvement vs effort entailed to reduce pressures supports the gap analysis required by the Water Framework Directive, by enabling river basin managers to define an appropriate level of investment not entailing efforts disproportionate to improvements in ecological status.
11.4 Implications for policy.
The analysis of river basins (art. 5 of the Water Framework Directive) includes a mapping of quantitative pressure indicators for pollution and hydro-morphological alterations, as well as an exploration of their relationship with ecological status. This enables the identification of those pressures which drive the ecological status of water bodies. Once the driving pressures are identified, measures to address each relevant pressure should be designed on the basis of an agreed-upon “pressure reduction target”. This should reflect a trade-off between the effort entailed and the improvement of status achieved. A multicriteria analysis tool as demonstrated in Pistocchi et al., 2018a, can support the definition of the pressure reduction targets by generating a fit-for-purpose Pareto front. Specific measures cannot be automatically elicited through a mathematical procedure, but stem from a design process and require reflective practice. It is important that the river basin management plan identifies all possible collateral benefits and beneficiaries of a given measure, in order to improve the viability of investments. In the future, the mapping of potentials for specific types of measures and the identification of the most suitable sites for a given measure based on spatial multicriteria evaluation techniques is expected to provide useful support in directing investments where they are most needed, most effective and where they can be best financed.
Besides technical analyses, empowering communities is an essential prerequisite for the successful implementation of measures. Measures designed not just to improve the ecological status, but also to stimulate the economy and to deliver specific benefits to the communities of local stakeholders may have stronger and more stable political endorsement and, consequently, may seize an effectiveness dividend in improving the ecological status of water bodies.

12. WP12: Water management policy (POLICY)
12.1. Existing policies
A policy analysis of all current EU policy related to water management found that none of them specifically mention multiple stressors. Aside from the communication from the EU on droughts, little mention of water scarcity is given in existing policy. Within the WFD and the Habitats Directive there is scope to provide guidance or regulation on managing multiple stressors under water scarcity. The analysis of the multilevel implementation of the WFD demonstrated the need for the improvements in both water management practices and policies that GLOBAQUA intends to deliver. The policy needs related to assessment under the WFD were: A) Improving characterisation of river basins; B) Better application of risk assessment for targeted and effective monitoring design; C) Better use of monitoring data to capture pressure-status interactions; D) Improving element selection for operational monitoring and classification. The policy needs related to management were: A) Assessment and identification of significant pressures to be managed; B) Improving selection of Programme of Measures (PoMs) that address significant pressures to improve system state; C) Improving the economic appraisal of measures; D) Improving transparency, interdisciplinarity and stakeholder engagement in the decision-making process.
12.2. Recommendations for bridging the science-policy gap
In order to inform river basin managers and policy makers the GLOBAQUA findings and insights should be integrated to a certain degree. There are two challenges that are associated with this knowledge integration:
How well are the involved researchers able to integrate the scientific knowledge in a meaningful way?
How well are the researchers able to produce knowledge/ scientific results that can be used by river basin managers?
The evaluation of the scientific knowledge integration process showed that GLOBAQUA has done well in interdisciplinary research. Analysis of the scientific output showed that 8% of the scientific articles fall in the category “interdisciplinary research” and 36 in the category of “multidisciplinary research”. The sampling campaigns scored very high on the level of interdisciplinarity. The intensive interaction and informal getting together during many days on the trip explains this high level of interdisciplinarity. The modules in GLOBAQUA are an important management mechanism to facilitate the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work. Many of the interdisciplinary articles are the result of the cooperation between modules. In this respect Module 1 and 2 worked a lot together, while module 3 was involved for specific activities, for instance on scenario development. Interdisciplinary work of the “broad type”, meaning that scientists from both natural and social sciences work together on a water problem, was not (yet) done.
Sometimes the dialogues about the integration of knowledge were not very productive because of poor facilitation of the discussions. The best scientists are not necessarily skilled in moderating the discussion between the different views from different disciplinary perspectives. Furthermore, there was a need for coordination on how to integrate the results for the project as a whole, meaning across modules and WPs. Therefore, we recommend for future interdisciplinary EU-projects to design a specific task in the Management WP or a separate WP to monitor the interdisciplinary progress and to coordinate and facilitate knowledge integration to foster the interdisciplinarity in the project.
In GLOBAQUA different river basins are involved. They act as case studies and connections to the related river basin managers have been established. GLOBAQUA delivered results to these river basin managers, but overall, these results were too much in a scientific language. There is still a need for translation of the results in terms and processes of the WFD that can be understood by river basin managers. The outreach to other European river basins could also be improved in this way.
12.3. Recommendations: adaptation of EU water policies
The EU water policy evolution that led to the adoption of the WFD revealed that the introduction of the Directive aimed to initiate a paradigm shift through the harmonised transposition of the "Integrated River Basin Management paradigm” (IRBM) as the way to account for multiple pressures interactions and to address uncertainties bounded in water management. Investigating implementation problems and reviewing progress and challenges with the implementation of the WFD, a deviation from the WFD’s systemic/ integrated methodological approach and intent were identified as opportunities for improvement. Considering the WFD’s reliance on public participation for addressing complexity and uncertainty appropriate recommendations for improving EU water policy and management are made. Finally, considering water scarcity, policy recommendations are made with regards to the potential of water reuse.
12.4. Defining constraints for adaptive and sustainable water management
Barriers were identified at the EU, the member state and the catchment level. Different interpretations on the Directive’s objectives and exemptions left unresolved since its negotiation, ambiguity and compromises observed by its Common Implementation Strategy and lack of real support for the policy shift required have all been barriers to the harmonised transposition of the IRBM paradigm, the key to delivering good ecological status. While the WFD was adopted to succeed and replace management practices targeting individually non-compliant element, findings at the catchment level, indicate that little had changed in the way measures were developed. Further recommendations were provided on how to improve catchment management. If ICM is enabled its application will entail improved tools (from pressures to impacts), better practices (i.e. effective public participation and engagement) and integrated solutions (i.e. water reuse as an alternative water supply). Further to these and with the integration of Ecosystem Services (ES) in WFD implementation being identified by GLOBAQUA as the area that can deliver the greatest benefits, ICM opportunities for integrating ES in River Basin Management Plans (RBMP) were explored in detail. A participatory and ES approach for pressure prioritisation was delivered.
12.5. Transfer of policy-relevant results to river basin managers
The results from the policy analysis and research were transformed into the 1st set of Policy Briefs and covered the policy needs with specific examples from the GLOBAQUA case study basins. A 2nd set of Policy Briefs was delivered, comprised of 11 policy briefs elaborated respectively by WP2-WP12, plus a synthesis document. A permanent interactive e-learning course for policy makers and river basin managers was delivered. A one-day training workshop on knowledge brokerage for River Basin Management was being organised to deliver knowledge and skills for a better use of scientific and stakeholder knowledge essential for River Basin Management.
Potential Impact:
WP1: Data management (DATA)
• Implementation of a Relational Database to collect monitoring data generated along the project and accessible the consortium members from the project website intranet.
• Implementation of a Repository for historical external data accessible to the consortium members from the project website intranet.
• Setting up of an sftp server for transferring large climate model-related datasets (a few Tb). Access to the server is provided by request to individual institutions
• Compilation of a list of relevant websites of interest relative to the different GLOBAQUA River basins.
• Design and implementation of a prototype of an interactive internet platform (Water-Hub) facilitating the connection to existing sources of information of potential relevance to GLOBAQUA.

WP2: Climate and socio-economic scenarios (SCENARIOS)
• The final results of this WP2 provide valuable information for a wide audience.
• Climate, socio-economic, land and water use scenarios developed in WP2 have been applied by other research groups to carry out scenario analysis in different fields (hydrology, water quality, ecosystem services)
• the elaborated scenarios are up to date and in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• Uncertainty analyses carried out for climate data helped making other scientific disciplines more aware of uncertainties related to climate change.
• Spatially distributed results are visualized on maps which helps to better communicate the scientific outcomes of this project to the broader public.
• Scientific results can be presented in an intuitive and easily understandable way.
• Identification of local stakeholders within their GARB helps drawing people’s interest and pushing them to become engaged in environmental issues.
• Land use maps presented to the stakeholders during workshops

WP3: Hydrological analysis (HYDROL)
• Identification of streamflow alterations and their evolution in the last decades are useful to inform water managers and support them in the identification of strategies to mitigate the impact of water uses on the environment;
• Projections of streamflow to the period 2041-2070 showed contrasting patterns across GLOBAQUA river basins. A limited impact of climate change on annual streamflow is observed in Alpine catchments. Projections for Ebro and Sava are more severe and show a relevant reduction of the mean streamflow. The results of the simulations conducted with the most updated RCMs, may be useful in identifying adaptation strategies to cope with the foreseen reduction of water resources in these important river basins.
• The analysis of available data for water quality in the period 1990-2015 evidenced a complex dynamics for targeted contaminants. The concentration of contaminants that are monitored on the regular basis show a dynamic that depends on the level of dilution that rivers are able to provide and the amount of contaminant releases. Rivers in which streamflow reduces, such as Ebro, show a tendency to increase the concentration of targeted contaminants and in general the impact of the rise of population (also temporary population due to touristic fluxes) is evident in all the river basins.

WP4: Geomorphological analysis (GEOMORPH)
• Sediment yield is an important factor in multi-stress analysis as it contributes to habitat-, hydrology- and pollutant-related stressors. As soil loss data are available on a pan-European scale efforts to derive data sets for Europe (e.g. based on soil loss maps or other empirical relations) should be supported.
• Catchments and river basins with low sediment yields are more vulnerable with respect to increased concentrations of hydrophobic pollutants on sediments (in principle, this also holds for effective concentrations of these pollutants in the water column. It partly also holds for metal concentrations on suspended sediments; however, a comparison with other urban/industrial pollutants and with local background values is required here to delineate additional pollution levels due to urban/industrial pressure).
• Elevated sediment-related pollutant concentrations which are related to frequent sewer overflows during high precipitations events may be addressed by improving the respective infrastructure (retention basins). This issue is often ranked less important in comparison to implementation of additional treatment steps in waste water treatment facilities; however, it is a very important factor in reducing risk to aquatic organisms.
• Legacy compounds may still pose a risk to the environment as river bed sediments in highly industrialized / urbanized landscapes may reveal a storage capacity for hydrophobic organic pollutants. The possible exceedance of allowable maximum concentrations (MAC EQS) according to Directive 2013/39/EU of selected hydrophobic organic pollutants in bulk water samples (e.g. fluoranthene, HCH, others) during pronounced discharge events – either due to mobilization of legacy compounds or due to high proportions of urban contaminant inputs – has to be considered in river management plans. At least in dynamic headwaters of river basins high density or even on-line monitoring of sediment/sediment-related pollutant fluxes may be required for a profound analysis of contaminant transport.

WP5: Chemical stressors analysis (QUALITYCHEM)
Based on results from chemical analysis, the recommendations on sustainable use, management and protection of water resources in the river basins investigated will be provided to National bodies like Ministries for Environmental Protection, Sectors for Water Protection, National Ministries for Health, National Ministries for Agriculture and National Water Institutes, as well as International bodies like International Sava River Basin Commission (ISRBC) and International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). Such activities already started after the project has finished (Recommendations for taking necessary measures for the protection of the Sava River Basin water resources have been provided on 38th PEG RBM meeting at ISRBC on 20th Februar 2019 in Zagreb, Croatia).
• Sava: Measures should be taken to prevent contamination by agricultural and industrial activities. Human consumption of predator fish in the lower Sava stretch should be reduced to a minimum.
• Adige: More wastewater treatment plants should be built in the touristic (skiing resorts) to reduce the burden of pharmaceuticals in the Adige river basin.
• Evrotas: Ecological agriculture is recommended in order to reduce the input of herbicides and insecticides into the waters of the Evrotas River.
• Ebro: Routine monitoring of the suspended particulate material during extreme flood events is recommended to gain deeper knowledge on potential risk posed by mobilization of organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from static river bed sediments into overlying waters of the Cinca River (Ebro's tributary).

WP6: Biological quality under multiple stressors (BIOL)
• WP6 results provide evidences of stressor-specific community responses in the studied basins as representative of the European reality, where multiple stressors drive the changes in biological diversity in rivers. The models presented in our study can be used to identify the most detrimental stressors for some communities, and thus select the management options to minimize the risks.
• Seasonal shifts in community composition should be taken into account in the design of assessment tools based on reference conditions. In addition, the intensity of community response depends on local communities and habitat characteristics; therefore, management policies should be adapted to local conditions.
• Experimental approaches (field and laboratory) to evaluate the effects of co-occurring stressors on biological communities can greatly help to separate the effect of specific disturbances on specific responses and allowing optimised recommendations.
• Epilithic biofilms appear as sensitive biosensors to gauge the effect of pollution in surface waters, especially for the acquisition and spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment.
• Emerging compounds and mixtures of toxicants can be relevant to the trophic network and the ecosystem processes, even when they occur at non-lethal concentrations.
• Water warming and drier conditions as a consequence of climate change and water management will affect invertebrate development and nutrient cycling in river ecosystems. These new conditions jointly with the impairment of fluvial habitats will cause community simplification or favour the arrival of invasive species.
• The proposed Risk Assessment procedure to assess pressures caused by biological invasions could be potentially used in target river basins. The development of proper legal instruments is an important issue for management of biological invasions. Considerable progress has been achieved in the EU Regulation in relation to the management of the invasive species, but there are still a lot of open issues to find effective measures in practice aimed to control biological invasions in rivers.

WP7: Ecosystem stressors analysis (ECOSYSTEM)
• Ecosystem processes (e.g. nutrient retention, metabolism, organic matter decomposition) are suitable indicators of the response of stream ecosystem health to multiple stressors (e.g. water scarcity, chemical pollution, hydromorphological alterations).
• The response of river ecosystem functioning is complex and can vary depending on the function and stressors considered; therefore, scientists and managers should select the most appropriate functions to measure depending on each case study. The Globaqua Toolbox developed in WP7 will be useful in the selection process.
• Historical changes in ecosystem functioning can be reconstructed from time series datasets; this opens the possibility to explore long-term trends in the ecological status of rivers and to develop more accurate forecasting models of future scenarios.

WP8: Integrated modelling for ecosystem services (SERVICES)
• Results from WP8 provide valuable information for policy makers at both European and regional levels. Thus, our results call for attention on water management in Mediterranean areas, as those have been identified as the most sensitive to changes in climate and land use changes in Souther Europe. Another important call for policy makers is on the relevance of implementing mitigation actions, as we have proved that the implementation of mitigation actions can attenuate to a major extent the impact of Global Change.
• All results have been expressed in maps, showing the results in a spatially explicit manner, thus facilitating communication and comprehension by a wider lay audience.
• A diversity of stakeholders has been engaged during the development of the socio-environmental model, thus allowing them to gain awareness of the water quantity and quality issues in their basin, and also allowing them to participate in the development of a tool that might facilitate the identification of solutions. In this direction, it’s important to stress that our results revealed the relevance of considering different actors as drivers of change in services provision. The multiple benefits associated to freshwater-related ecosystem services are also delivered to different stakeholders, thus tradeoffs and conflicts are likely to appear. Farmers, forest managers and urban planners are examples of stakeholders that need to take into consideration in water policy.

WP9: Methodology for socioeconomic management (SOCIOECON)
• Assist well informed and science-evidence based decision making on the management of water resources that takes explicitly into account the notion of Total Economic Value and Ecosystem Services
• Provide qualitative and quantitative insights on agent’s perceptions on costs and benefits related to water use
• Support sustainable management of water resources that consider the financial, resource and environmental costs and benefits of water resources
• Provide a set of socio-economic measures and tools that allow for integrated sustainable management of water

WP10: Economic valuation of ecosystem services (VALUATION)
• Citizens perceive many different pressures, both coming from human activities and from climate change, to be negatively affecting ecosystem services. Overall, all ecosystem services are important and can contribute value in different forms. The most important ecosystem services are often those which contribute to quality of life and to nature and biodiversity, but in general it is recognized that all ecosystem services have economic value.
• The increasing public opinion on focusing on the resilience of river basins against hydrological extremes, favour the implementation of measures that contribute to the protection of water resources, maintaining the beauty of landscapes and prevent the desertification.
• Addressing the public desire for an economic growth should not be done by following the traditional path, but by stimulating the water smart business development, the circular-economy and the support of innovation platforms.
• Policy makers, decision makers and planners should take stock of this phenomenon and strengthen the implementation of ecosystem services that mitigate the multi stressor effects and the resilience of river basins at the same time.
• Involving the public at upmost level in elaborating such interventions will not only lead to a faster realization of selected measures, but right the way also to the stronger valuation of efforts by decision makers and implementing administrations.

WP11: Integrated model framework (INTEGRATION)
• A clear conceptual framework helps steering the formation of sound river basin management plans, addressing the issues highlighted in the current implementation.
• An online tool for the optimization of pressure reduction targets can be used both at river basin level for demonstration and training purposes (illustrate how to conduct a gap analysis to define the appropriate level of pressure reduction), and at EU scale for benchmarking and appraisal of river basin management plans (define a reference scenario of optimized efforts for the reduction of pressures).
• Spatial layers of pressure indicators at European scale help understanding the relationship between multiple pressures and the ecological status of water bodies, hence to identify priorities for action.
• These three products are expected to significantly enhance and expand the toolbox available to water managers and planners. In particular, we expect that future river basin management plans will be developed in a way more considerate of the opportunities for multifunctional investments, and more specifically targeted to improving the ecological status of water bodies. This is generally expected to have positive implications both for human health and ecosystem conservation, and for the harnessing of water management as a factor of competitiveness and prosperity in Europe.

WP12: Water management policy (POLICY)
• WP 12 delivered two sets of policy briefs. Policy Analysis and GLOBAQUA results (findings, methodologies, approaches, tools) of individual WPs (WP2-WP12) were transformed into recommendations for river basin managers (both in at EU member states in general and specific recommendations /findings to GLOBAQUA case studies) and for policy makers in light of the WFD implementation (challenges) and the upcoming revision process.
• Nick Voulvoulis (IMPERIAL) participated as an invited external key speaker in a two days’ European workshop on the integrated assessment of the 2nd River Basin Management Plans to support the Fitness Check of the WFD and other water legislation, expected by mid-2019.
• IMPERIAL has been engaging with the councils involved in the revision of the WFD. For more information, see the Exploratory note “Working on the Water Framework Directive” that shows the influence of GLOBAQUA in this revision.
• In preparation of the WFD 2019 review, the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC) invited Nick Voulvoulis (IMPERIAL) to present findings from his research on the WFD implementation.
• Seven peer reviewed articles, open access. Some highly referenced (one was among the 3 most downloadable articles in STOTEN for since was published) and attracted much attention from scientists, stakeholders and citizens.
• Research findings of WP12 can be found referenced in various reports on the revision of the Directive (Article 19.2 of WFD), the Fitness Check of the 2nd RBMPs and scientific papers from the sister EU projects when providing recommendations for improving the implementation of EU water policy.
• Recommendations on how to improve the implementation of the WFD and enable the Integrated River Basin Management would strengthen the institutional capacity of Member States to deliver the WFD objectives and improve the quality of freshwater systems.

WP13: Dissemination (DISSEMINATION)
The main objectives of WP13 are to coordinate the dissemination of the results, to create interest and to raise awareness among the relevant stakeholders and policy makers on the outcomes of the project. Furthermore, this WP aims at organising training programme for young scientists, practitioners, end-users and other interested parties.
• Dissemination - Project website: The project website (www.globaqua-project.eu) was built to inform public, stakeholders and scientific community on project development and to make and keep contact with interested parties (e.g. industry, academic institutions and regulatory bodies). It has been regularly updated with project developments and news in the research field in general, including details of all publications produced, advertisement on courses, workshops, conferences and other dissemination activities. At the end of the project, the main data about on web-user traffic are: 17.793 New Users; 1.71 No. session per User, 3.29 pages/session, 3:03 average session duration. Most part of Users come from Germany (18%), Spain (11%) USA (8%).

• Dissemination - Promotional and informational material: To raise awareness on the project outcomes among regulators, policy makers, water managers and other practicing professionals several promotion and informational materials were foreseen in the project considering different types of target audience: scientific community, regulators and policy makers, stakeholders (consultants, analysts, managers and planners), general public. During the project were produced: 10 semi-annual newsletter wich were sent to the project mailing list including 1664 (241 after new GDPR regulation) contacts (average opening rate: 20%); 5 informational factsheets for policy makers and river basin managers summarizing key project outcomes and policy recommendations (all factsheets were merged together in a communicative brochure which distributed among stakeholders in the main project events); 11 press releases to raise awareness among stakeholders on the main project events; a YouTube channel (https://goo.gl/hoy36N) including 6 videos (1 project video + 4 case study videos + 1 training course video) targeting a wide public audience with TV quality (175 average number of views); a permanent interactive e-learning course for policy makers and RBMs (released at the end of project, it will be public available at least until 31th January 2021).
• Dissemination - Scientific dissemination material: To disseminate project results among scientific community, in the frame of GLOBAQUA were produced 200 scientific papers (100% of the committed) of which 30 (15%) are not open access, 9 articles in edited books, 2 books (Souss-Massa River Basin case study, and Multiple Stress in River Ecosystems: Status, impacts and prospects for the future) and 19 thesis/dissertations. On the 21st January 2015, the GLOBAQUA introductory paper “Managing the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity. The GLOBAQUA Project” was among the 25 most downloaded articles from STOTEN.
• Dissemination – Participation in conferences: Project partners attended several relevant conferences along the duration of the project with a total of 256 oral and 99 poster presentations.
Regarding the exploitation of results and share of knowledge, and to assure project visibility, insure public activities, assure dissemination, engage relevant stakeholders, partners attended national and international conferences, and exhibitions as well as organized workshops, conferences, and meetings with river basin managers and/or policy makers in each case study country. In particular, the following event have been organised (average n. of participant = 87):
• 1st GLOBAQUA Conference - Managing the Effects of Multiple Stressors on Aquatic Ecosystems Under Water Scarcity (11-12/1/16, Freising, Germany);
• GLOBAQUA Workshop - Towards the Assessment of Ecological Status of Water Bodies in The Sava River Basin (10-12/2/16, Ljubljana, Slovenia);
• GLOBAQUA-MARS Workshop - New Predictive Tools to Improve River Water Management from Local to European Scale (16-17/3/17, Sesimbra, Portugal);
• GLOBAQUA Workshop - A Reconnaissance of Trace Organic Compounds and Metals in GLOBAQUA River Basins: Effects on Ecosystems and Risk Assessment (9-10/11/17, Barcelona, Spain);
• GLOBAQUA Conference - Managing Water Scarcity in River Basins: Innovation and Sustainable Development (4-6/10/18, Agadir, Morocco);
• Final GLOBAQUA Conference - Water River Management Under Water Scarcity and Multiple Stressors (18-19/12/18, Barcelona, Spain).
To facilitate efficient, effective and rapid horizontal transfer of knowledge among mainly young scientists but also practitioners (i.e. end users, water managers) 6 training courses were organised along the project covering a different area of expertise each time. In particular, the following training courses were organised (average n. of participant = 21):
• Modeling Hydrological Processes Across Spatial Scales (9-12/3/15, Trento, Italy)
• Rapid Screening of Aquatic Organic Pollution and Toxicity Using Bioassays and Biosensors (26-27/11/15, Barcelona, Spain)
• The Use of Stable Isotopes in Investigations of Hydrological Processes and Climate Change (10-13/10/16, Ljubljana, Slovenia)
• Modelling for Freshwater Related Ecosystem Services (17-20/7/17, Girona, Spain)
• Economics of Sustainable Water Management (22-23/2/18, Maroussi, Greece)
• Knowledge Brokerage for River Basin Managers and Scientists (3/10/18, Agadir, Morocco)

List of Websites:
http://www.globaqua-project.eu

GLOBAQUA coordinator:
Prof. Dr. Damià Barceló,
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA),
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Email: [e-mail]

Documenti correlati

• final1-project-final-report-publishable-summary-report.pdf