7. REPORTING AT RBD/SUB-UNIT LEVEL FOR SURFACE WATER (SCHEMA SWMET)

Article 5 of the WFD requires Member States to identify surface water bodies that will be used for assessing progress with, and achievement of, the WFD’s Environmental Objectives. In addition, under certain conditions, Article 4(3) of the WFD permits Member States to identify and designate artificial water bodies (AWB) and heavily modified water bodies (HMWB). AWB and HMWB are required to achieve Good Ecological Potential (GEP) by 2015.

Identifying the size of surface water bodies was an important parameter that had implications on the design of the monitoring programmes and on the development of appropriate programmes of measures. A stepwise process for the identification of AWB and HMWB resulted in a provisional identification by 2004. Full identification should have been completed by 2010 for publication in the first RBMPs. The characterisation of surface water body types, including the identification of AWB and HMWB, may have been reviewed and revised as part of the review and update (if necessary) of the Article 5 analysis, required by December 2013.

Article 5 also requires Member States to analyse the characteristics of surface water bodies and to provide a summary report on surface water characterisation, including general information on their typology.

Class SWType

1. Please include here any comments which apply to all the schema elements in this Class.
2. In addition to those general schema element level comments, we welcome your views on: a) whether you think this Class can be simplified;  and b) whether you think the linkages with other reporting Classes or Schemas can be improved, and how;

swTypeCode -Required.

Member State code for the characterisation type of the water body, as reported for each water body in the surface water schema (SWB), and the RBMP and background documents. If typology for HMWBs and/or AWBs has been derived and used it should be reported here. This will allow reporting of e.g. physico-chemical standards linked to these types under the schema SWMET.  

swTypeDescription - Required.

Briefly describe the type (e.g. small, lowland, siliceous rivers). Provide a reference to where further details can be found in the RBMP and background documents.

swIntercalibrationType - Required.(SWIntercalibrationType_Enum)

If the surface water body type corresponds with an intercalibration type, report the intercalibration type code (not name).

swTypeCategory - Required.(SWCategory_Enum)

Report the category of surface water body to which this type refers.

swTypeSpecificReferenceConditionsForBQEs - Required.(AllSomeNone_Enum)

Indicate whether type-specific reference conditions have been established for this surface water type for all relevant BQEs

swTypeSpecificReferenceConditionsForHyMoQEs - Required.(AllSomeNone_Enum)

Indicate whether type-specific reference conditions have been established for this surface water type for all relevant hydromorphological QEs.

swTypeSpecificReferenceConditionsForPhysChemQEs - Required.(AllSomeNone_Enum)

Indicate whether type-specific reference conditions have been established for this surface water type for all relevant physico-chemical QEs

Class SWMethodologies

1. Please include here any comments which apply to all the schema elements in this Class.
2. In addition to those general schema element level comments, we welcome your views on: a) whether you think this Class can be simplified;  and b) whether you think the linkages with other reporting Classes or Schemas can be improved, and how;

typologyMethodologyReference - Required.(ReferenceType)

Provide references or hyperlinks to the documents and sections where relevant information relating to the typology methodology can be found.  Guidance on what should be included in this document is provided in Section 7.2.3.3. 

smallWBsMethodologyReference - Required.(ReferenceType)

Provide references or hyperlinks to the documents and sections where relevant information relating to the methodology for small water bodies can be found.  Guidance on what should be included in this document is provided in Section 7.2.3.3. 

minimumCatchmentAreaRivers - Required.

If defined, state the minimum catchment area in km² for a river to be delineated as a water body in the RBMP. If not defined report -8888.

minimumSurfaceAreaLakes - Required.

If defined, state the minimum surface area in km² for a lake to be delineated as a water body in the RBMP. If not defined report -8888

otherMinimumCriteria - Optional.

If the minimum criteria used for the delineation of river water bodies is not based on catchment area, or for lake water bodies is not based on surface area, describe the criteria used.

iRBDTypologyCoOrdinationReference - Conditional.(ReferenceType)

Provide references or hyperlinks to the documents and sections where relevant information relating to the co-ordination of typology methodology in international RBDs can be found.  Guidance on what should be included in this document is provided in Section 7.2.3.3.

hmwbMethodologyReference - Required.(ReferenceType)

Provide references or hyperlinks to the documents and sections where any relevant information relating to the methodology for the designation of AWB and HMWB, can be found. Guidance on what should be included in this document is provided in Section 7.2.3.3.

Guidance on contents of RBMPs/Background Documents

(Please see the full text of this sub-section in the WFD Reporting Guidance 2016 or above chapter)

Include here any comments that relate to the information contained in this sub-section of the Reporting Guidance, namely concerning information you think could/should be reported electronically and information which you believe should not be included in the River Basin Management Plans or background documents.