L'aigua, un bé preuat que cal protegir

• Antoni Munné ^[2] ; Núria Bonada ^[1] ; Narcís Prat ^[1]
  1. [1] Universitat de Barcelona

     Universitat de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
  2. [2] Departament de Control i Qualitat de les Aigües, Agència Catalana de l’Aigua
• Localización: Natura, Ús o Abús?: llibre Blanc de la Gestió de la Natura als Països Catalans / coord. por Ramón Folch, Josep Peñuelas Reixach, David Serrat Congost, Josep Germain i Otzet, 2018, ISBN 978-84-9965-457-7
• Idioma: catalán
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • To date, the Catalan Government has been carrying out two consecutive MonitoringProgrammes (MPs) according to the Water Framework Directive - WFD (2000/60/EC),covering the six-year periods of 2007-2012 and 2013-2018. Both MPs allowed to getsignificant and representative data from Catalan water bodies on several qualityelements required by WFD: biological elements, physico-chemical parameters,hydromorphological conditions, priority substances, or groundwater piezometric levels.In parallel, several research programs have been carried out by some Catalan ResearchCenters and Universities, which have increased the knowledge for a suitable ecologicalstatus assessment. As a result, we currently have a good overview about the threats andhuman pressures facing freshwater and marine ecosystems in Catalonia and the requiredmeasures to tackle them.Water pollution has been progressively reduced thanks to the more than 500 urbanwastewater treatment plants that the Catalan Government has built up to now. However,several key issues that jeopardize the Catalan aquatic ecosystems still need to beaddressed, such as exotic species, riparian alteration, groundwater overexploitation,nitrate and pesticides concentration in agricultural areas, emerging contaminants ofconcern, minimum environmental flows and flow regime alteration, connectivity lossdue to dams and weirs along rivers, marine seagrasses degradation, or the coastalalteration by harbors, building breakwaters or sand restauration in beaches. Many ofthese pressures have become more complex, whilst new and emerging threats have beenidentified, and the harmful effects of multiple stressors have been increasingly affectingthe aquatic ecosystems in Catalonia.In this paper, we summarize the current most relevant threats and human pressuresto Catalan aquatic ecosystems, pointing out several conservation and restorationchallenges that would need to be adopted through a suitable program of measures.Given that over half of the Catalan rivers, reservoirs, wetlands, coastal lagoons,estuaries, bays and coastal waters are currently classified below the good ecologicalstatus, specific measures to tackle all identified threats are urgently needed in order tomeet good ecological status in all water bodies, and to preserve the aquatic ecosystemsand its biodiversity.