The Importance of Considering Pollution Along the Coast From Heavily Modified Water Bodies Under the Water Framework Directive

Abstract

The European Water Framework Directive aims to achieve a good status of all inland and coastal waters in the European Union by evaluating the status and the anthropogenic pressures to natural water bodies. As such, several techniques have been developed to evaluate the anthropogenic pressure to coastal areas. The most widespread methods are indexes, although some authors have also used the application of models. Using indexes has many advantages, such as the simplicity or the fast application. The anthropogenic pressure is generally assessed through the application of an index which is calculated based on parameters such as population density, urbanization, industry, agriculture, fisheries and maritime transport. However, the dispersion of contaminants along the coast is a factor that is generally overlooked by such indexes. Natural coastal waters have been widely assessed in Member States. On the contrary, heavily modified coastal waters, which are generally located close to the biggest urban areas, have been left aside in the evaluation process. To demonstrate that minimizing pollution in heavily modified coastal waters is a must, we evaluated several nutrient concentrations in natural coastal waters of the Jucar River Basin District, located in the Western Mediterranean Sea (Spain). We calculated the correlation between nutrient concentrations and several anthropogenic pressures, including the presence of adjacent water bodies considered as heavily modified by human activity under the Water Framework Directive. Then, a forward stepwise linear regression was applied to identify the activities most affecting nutrient concentrations. It was found that the presence of a neighbouring water body classified as heavily modified was the main driver of nutrient concentration differences among natural water bodies. These results suggest that the evaluation of anthropogenic pressures to coastal waters should also consider the dispersion of pollutants from adjacent heavily modified coastal waters.

Anthropogenic impact on nitrification dynamics in coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea

“…The highest N concentrations were found in C007, the water body located north of Valencia city. Chlorophyll-a was also high in C007; the most polluted site of the JRBD (Pachés et al, 2012;Temino-Boes et al, 2018). C002, the reference water body, had low N concentrations, together with C001 and C003.…”

An Assessment of Artificial Floating Islands as a Method of Habitat Creation in Marine Environments

“…Figure 7.1 summarises the biota that interacted with the installed AFIs in Swansea Marina and The Prince of Wales Dock. Avramenko, 2000;RSPB, 2000aRSPB, , 2000bRSPB, , 2000cHulme, 2007;Ilbusca, 2011;European Commission, 2016;Extreme Environments, 2017;IFCA, 2020;RocknReef Inc, 2020 (Borja & Elliott, 2007;Temino-Boes et al, 2018). The directive assesses a combination of abiotic and biotic factors to classify a water bodies overall status including benthic communities, fish, hydromorphological and physcio-chemical characteristics (Borja & Elliott, 2007).…”

“…The directive assesses a combination of abiotic and biotic factors to classify a water bodies overall status including benthic communities, fish, hydromorphological and physcio-chemical characteristics (Borja & Elliott, 2007). Both Swansea Marina and The Prince of Wales Dock are of moderate ecological status and therefore, their ecological potential must be improved in order to meet the WFD objectives and to protect adjacent natural habitats (Temino-Boes et al, 2018). Ecological-engineering (eco-engineering) methods such as AFIs should be considered as restoration tools in heavily modified water bodies, with the aim of reaching the maximum ecological potential of the site.…”

“…The aim of this thesis was to assess AFIs installed in heavily modified coastal water bodies to answer the overarching question 'Can artificial floating islands be used as a restoration tool in heavily modified coastal water bodies to increase their ecological potential?'. Heavily modified water bodies are surface waters that have been physically altered by anthropogenic activities, substantially changing its hydrogeomorphological characteristics (Borja & Elliott, 2007;Temino-Boes et al, 2018). The thesis was motivated by knowledge gaps on viable compensation techniques for large-scale marine renewable infrastructure projects such as Tidal Lagoon Power, that have the potential to cause coastal habitat loss.…”

“…The recycled plastic matrix and submerged roots of vegetated AFIs provide a structurally heterogeneous surface, encouraging the colonisation of micro and macroorganisms; these include 'soft' and 'hard' fouling species (Callow & Callow, 2002;Yeh et al, 2015). AFIs installed in heavily modified coastal water bodies, substantially changed by morphological alteration could be a practical restoration tool to enhance benthic communities and increase their ecological potential (Borja & Elliott, 2007;Temino-Boes et al, 2018;Buffagni et al, 2019). Like pontoons, AFIs have vertical and horizontal attachment sites that may create two distinct biofouling communities (Pomerat & Reiner, 1942;Bassindale et al, 1948) due to fluctuating hydrodynamics and physcio-chemical conditions (Eckman, 1983;Glasby & Connell, 2001;Perkol-Finkel et al, 2006a) and grazing preferences of local predators (Mook, 1981;Oricchio et al, 2016).…”