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The Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) was introduced in 2000. In implementing the WFD in Sweden expert knowledge in areas relating to the WFD was much needed resulting in establishment of national water management authorities, as the five water authorities, boarded in appointed county administrative boards across the country. As much noted in literature, uncertainties appear when implementing the WFD. Previous literature,with the exception of e.g. Raadgever et al (2011), Brugnach et al (2008) and Sigel et al (2007 and2010), has not put much focus on the types of uncertainty experienced by water management officials working with the implementation of the WFD on a daily basis. There are also few studies in Sweden, such as Gipperth & Elmgren (2010), Hammer et al (2011) and Entson & Gipperth(2010), touching upon the subject although not entirely focusing on practical experiences of uncertainty. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reveal the types of uncertainties experienced by water management officials from: SMHI, the county administrative board in Östergötland and Bothnia Bay, the water authority in the Southern Baltic Sea district, the Northern Baltic Sea and the North Sea, as well as the SEPA. In analysing the empirical data, six types of uncertainties emerged. They showed that water management officials experienced uncertainties in interpreting the WFD e.g. recommendation and manuals from supervisory authorities, measurement techniques, the typology of water bodies, what methods to use in e.g. assessments, knowing the effects of action programmes and lack of data ordata deficiency. In combating these uncertainties, the water management officials used communication as an strategy. Furthermore, responsibility in pointing out uncertainties and ways of reducing uncertainties was also seen as ways of handling uncertainties.

For a meaningful discussion of the effectiveness of ecological objectives and ecological quality standards, their terms and purposes must be examined and clarified. This study explores the terms and content of ecological quality objectives and ecological quality standards, based on the Water Framework Directive’s legal conceptualization of ‘ecological status’. This exploration is accomplished by analysing and describing the Water Framework Directive’s ‘ecological status’ aspect from a legal-ecological perspective. The analysis of ‘ecological status’ and its main constructs forms the basis for a possible alternative form of regulation, which addresses the shortcomings identified in the analysis.

The Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC) is an innovative piece of legislation aimed at harmonizing Water Policy among the 27 Member States. This Directive, the reading of which may appear quasi-revolutionary due to its territorial and material scope, is a new policy instrument with, as of yet, still ongoing implementation. The final deadline for the complete implementation of the Water Framework Directive is 2015, when the good ecological status of the water bodies in the European Union should have been achieved. The purpose of this study is to analyze the development of the implementation on three essential aspects of the Directive: the transposition, the creation of the administrative authorities, and the public participation in the elaboration of the River Basin Management Plans. My thesis has two main research questions: 1) Have France and Spain implemented the WFD correctly? 2) Does the pervasive theory of the Mediterranean Syndrome apply to my study cases? In order to answer the first question, I use the scoreboard method to assess of the correctness of implementation of the three essential aspects of the Directive mentioned above, complemented by an examination of the domestic dynamics that shaped the implementation categorized into different modes of governance. To address the second question the two case studies I have chosen will test the doctrine of the northern leaders and southern laggards as based on institutional culture. The doctrine of the Southern Laggards (also known as the Mediterranean Syndrome doctrine) advocates that the Southern/Mediterranean states are doomed to fail implementing EU environmental policy. In my thesis, I address this doctrine by using a practical case study: the comparison of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive between France and Spain. The essence of these arguments is rooted in the mainstream doctrine of the goodness of fit. That is, a Directive is more likely to be correctly implemented where there is a matching institutional framework. In order to use this theory as a departure point to examine the hypothesis of likeliness of correct implementation of the WFD by France and Spain, I selected three main institutional features that are hallmarks in France and Spain and also practically opposed: political centralization versus decentralization, democracy and participation versus totalitarianism, and the status of economic development of each EU Member. I use them as indicators to determine the degree of fit of France and Spain´s institutional frameworks with the purpose, the policy style and the institutions required by the WFD. I conclude with highlighting the importance of this study for the contribution that it may make to two contemporary issues: the current Eastern/Western divide in the EU (can the doctrine of the Northern/Southern states usefully be extrapolated to the Western/Eastern Members?) and the thorny economic situation of the EU today. At the time of finishing writing this thesis, all the fingers point to Greece, immersed in a striking public debt that has shaken the rest of the Mediterranean countries: is the Mediterranean Syndrome attacking again? / Graduate

Ongoing environmental changes and increasing pressure on freshwater habitat require that we understand the ecological quality of freshwater ecosystems across a wide range of habitat types. This Ph.D. thesis addresses the utility of fish as ecological indicators in heterogeneous reservoir ecosystems. In the first section, I develop suitable indices and calculate ecological potential in two case studies, one using common fish guilds and traits at a large continental scale and another using species-specific indicators for a country-specific dataset. In the second section, I compare the assessment of fish communities across a large geographical region and identify anthropogenic stressors with the highest impact on fish communities. In the third section, I discuss the issue of optimal gillnet sampling design for reliable fish indicator values to increase the utility of assessment methodologies and to reduce sampling effort and fish mortality required to obtain reliable data. In the fourth section, I compare estimates of fish recruitment based on different sampling methods and develop a novel statistical approach to analyse factors affecting fish recruitment. This work provides an initial step towards the improvement of ecological quality of freshwater reservoirs.

Water management is undergoing a transformation towards integration, source control and ecological thinking. In the EU, the Water Framework Directive can be considered as a driver towards this new approach to water management. Innovations are deemed necessary to deliver this ideal of water management. In this thesis efforts by water sewerage companies in England & Wales to rectify agricultural pollution at source are viewed as an organisational innovation towards more sustainable water management. These source control interventions can help achieving the goals of the Water Framework Directive by reducing diffuse pollution from agriculture, fostering participation in water management and by reducing overall cost of implementation. This thesis contributes to understanding the process of change in water management by developing a model of the innovation-decision process. Insights about how innovation and therefore change can be influenced is generated by applying this model to the process of source control intervention adoption by water and sewerage companies. This research employed a flexible research design using comparative case studies. Each of the 10 water and sewerage companies in England and Wales represented an individual case. Data were collected in two phases using semi-structured interviews with selected water and sewerage company representatives. Thematic analysis, recurrence counts and content analysis were applied to analyse interviews. It was found that water companies are likely to contribute towards integrated approaches to water management, since there is a trend to adopt source control intervention. Change in water management is influenced by the interaction of factors from the domains: ‗Natural-Physical‘, ‗Organisational Characteristics‘, ‗Regulatory- Institutional‘ and ‗Innovation Attributes‘. The rate of change by water and sewerage companies is governed by a combination of asset characteristics, environmental state changes and the funding cycle. Furthermore, innovation is triggered by direct regulation and regulation that requires the gathering of information. Contrary to this flexible or framework regulation performs better in guiding the direction of change.

Fresh water has become more and more of a scarce commodity. Water scarcity isn't first and foremost a cause of drought and wasting, but a cause of inequality and mismanagement. This is not only a problem for developing countries, and there can also be variations within countries. The municipality of Gotland has a development program called Vision Gotland 2025, with goals for growth and sustainable development. The aim of this study is to examine whether the use and management of water resources on Gotland and Vision Gotland 2025 is conformed to the Water Framework Directive and the Ecosystem Approach in terms of sustainability. Focus is on the quantitative aspects of water supply. The study has mainly been done by studying publications from the authorities concerned. Although annual precipitation in general is enough to provide fresh water for the population, water shortage occurs in some areas during the summers. Three of the four main catchment areas on Gotland have unsatisfactory quantitative status, and is likely to have so also when the time limit of the next evaluation is due in 2015. Since both the population and tourism is presumed to increase, according to Vision Gotland 2025, the conclusion drawn is that the use of water resources is not sustainable, even though the management per se does conform to the ecosystem approach.

In Sweden, EU: s Water Framework Directive led to an investigation that started in April 2012 by the Swedish government, called Vattenverksamhetsutredningen freely translated to "Water Activities Survey", with the purpose to investigate the Environmental Code’s rules concerning water activities and water plants. The survey is divided into 3 reports, two sub-reports and a final report. One of the sub-report is focused on Swedish hydropower and the investigators found that many hydropower plants have old permits. One suggestion in the survey was to reconsider old permits so they would become consistence with today’s Environmental Code. There have been discussions regarding whether Sweden will lose much of its electricity production from hydropower as an outcome if the survey’s suggestions becomes reality. The aim with this literature study is to investigate how the EU: s Water Framework Directive and the Water Activities Survey will affect Swedish hydropower and if there will be a decrease in electricity production as an outcome if the suggestions made in the survey becomes reality. The results in this literature study shows that there will probably be a decrease in production for Swedish hydropower, but with how much is hard to say because the Swedish government has not yet decided what they will do with the suggested actions in the Water Activities Survey. A comparison is done with Sweden’s import and export statistics between the years 2001-2014 with a predicted loss of 13 TWh per year, which is a number taken from a survey made by Vattenfall. A comparison with a loss of half of 13 TWh per year is also done. Between the years 2001 and 2014 Sweden imported electricity 6 out of 14 years and exported electricity 8 out of 14 years. If adding the predicted loss of 13 TWh per year to the import and export statistics, Sweden would have had to import electricity 12 years and export 2 years. If adding a loss of 6.5 TWh per year Sweden would have had to import electricity 8 years and export 6 years. The conclusions is that Sweden will have to import a lot more electricity if only looking at import and export statistic if the loss of electricity is between 6.5-13 TWh per year.

With the formal adoption of the Water Framework Directive in 2000, into European legislation it committed all member states to ensure that all inland waterbodies should reach good ecological status by 2015. As a result examination of the influence of hydromorphology on the ecological health of riverine ecosystems has become an increasingly important priority for statutory monitoring agencies such as the Environment Agency of England and Wales and equivalents in other parts of the UK. It is anticipated that by increasing our understanding of the role that hydromorphological processes play in shaping river habitats and the ecosystems that they support, river management strategies can be developed that will help lead to waterbodies achieving good ecological status. In this thesis, the influence of river hydromorphology and instream channel management activities on instream macroinvertebrate communities is explored. A two-scale approach was used at a regional macro-scale and local / catchment micro-scale. The macro-scale study examines the ecological, hydrological and geomorphological data for 88 river reaches located within the Environment Agency , Anglian Central and Anglian Northern regions, over a twenty year period (1986-2005). At the micro-scale two sub-catchments were selected, the River Bain and River Lymn, both located in Lincolnshire, England for detailed investigation. The micro-scale study was undertaken using ecological, hydrological and geomorphological data collected over three successive seasons (Autumn 2008, Spring 2009 and Summer 2009) enabling the seasonal variations and the influence of both stream size and habitat biotope on macroinvertebrate community composition and structure to be explored. The hydromorphological characteristics and condition of the rivers were quantified using ecologically relevant hydrological indices, calculated from flow discharge paired with geomorphological indices from River Habitat Survey data. The response of the instream macroinvertebrate communities was examined using a range of ecological indices including the Lotic-invertebrate Index for Flow Evaluation (LIFE). The results of the macro-scale investigation demonstrate that the macroinvertebrate community is directly influenced by instream hydromorphology and the level of anthropogenic modification. The micro-scale study highlights important differences in macroinvertebrate communities associated with instream habitat / biotope composition. The quantification of river hydromorphology, with the use of ecologically relevant hydrological indices and geomorphological indices, derived from River Habitat Survey data, is discussed with regards its ability to help explain the structure and composition of macroinvertebrate communities within highly managed /regulated riverine ecosystems. The implications of this research for river managers and for implementing river restoration and rehabilitation schemes are explored.

<p>In this study the practical work with the EU Water Framework starts on the island of Gotland. 33 lakes and 32 streams have been characterized and classified regarding to their ecological status. The aim with the characterisation is to create a uniform discription of all waterbodies and a comparable estimation for the future. The aim with the classification is both to study the waterbodies ecological status and to gain knowledge of where the resources should be concentrated so that the ecological status in all waterbodies will be good in 2015.</p><p>The characterisation has been done according to the EU Water Framework Directive, and the factors that have been applied are the mean depth and area of the lake. The length and size on the catchment area are the factors that have been used on streams. The classification is issued from biological, chemical and hydromorphological elements. The biological elements in both lakes and streams are fish and benthic macroinvertebrates. The chemical elements in lakes consist of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, quotient total nitrogen/total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, alkalinity and pH-value. The chemical elements in streams consist of area-specific losses of total phosphorus and total nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand, alkalinity and pH-value. The hydromorphological elements are lakes that are regulated, streams that have been straightened out and streams that have something stopping sawing fish.</p><p>The result of the characterisation shows five different sea types: large and deep seas, meanlarge and deep seas, meanlarge and shallow seas, small and deep seas as well as small and shallow seas. The result from the classification shows that 26 lakes have high or good ecological status. However, this still means that the seven lakes Asträsk, Bogeviken, Bondansträsk, Fridträsk, Inre Stockviken, Mjölhatteträsk and Paviken have moderate ecological status. 15 streams have good or high ecological status, while nine have moderate status. These nine streams are Burgsvikenån, Gothemsån, Ireån, Halorån, Lummelundaån, Närkån, Snoderån, Vägumeån as well as Västergarnsån. The ecological status could not be decided in eight streams, due to the low number of facts. All lakes and streams with moderate ecological status, except Bondansträsk, have recieved this estimation as a result of the high substance of nutrients. While fish in Bondansträsk is not good, the lake recieved the estimation moderate status.</p> / <p>I detta examensarbete inleds det praktiska arbetet med ramdirektivet för vatten på Gotland. I enlighet med vattendirektivet har 33 gotländska sjöar och 32 gotländska vattendrag karakteriserats och klassificerats utifrån ekologisk status. Syftet med karakteriseringen är att skapa en enhetlig beskrivning av samtliga vattenförekomster, vilket ger ett jämförbart underlag inför fortsatta bedömningar av sjöar och vattendrag på Gotland. Syftet med klassificeringen är att dels ta reda på den ekologiska statusen för gotländska ytvatten, dels att få kunskap om var resurserna bör läggas för att en god ekologisk status skall uppnås till år 2015.</p><p>Karakteriseringen utfördes enligt vattendirektivets system B, och de faktorer som användes är maxdjup och sjöarea för sjöar samt längd och avrinningsområdets area för vattendrag.</p><p>Detta resulterade i fem sjötyper: stora och djupa sjöar, stora och grunda sjöar, mellanstora och grunda sjöar, små och djupa sjöar samt små och grunda sjöar. Vattendragen indelades i fyra typer: långa vattendrag med stort avrinningsområde, långa vattendrag med mellanstort avrinningsområde, korta vattendrag med mellanstort avrinningsområde samt korta vattendrag med litet avrinningsområde.</p><p>Klassningen utgick, i enlighet med vattendirektivet, från biologiska, kemiska och hydromorfologiska faktorer. Den biologiska klassningen i både sjöar och vattendrag gjordes med utgångspunkt från fisk och bottenfauna. Den kemiska bedömningen i sjöar gjordes utifrån totalfosfor, totalkväve, fosfor/kväve-kvot, kemisk syreförbrukning, alkalinitet och pH-värde. För vattendrag har arealspecifik förlust av fosfor och kväve, kemisk syreförbrukning, alkalinitet och pH-värde använts. Den hydromorfologiska bedömningen gjordes med hänsyn tagen till rätning av vattendrag, vandringshinder i vattendrag samt reglering av sjöar.</p><p>Resultatet av klassificeringen visar att hela 26 av de 33 undersökta gotländska sjöarna har hög eller god ekologisk status, och sju sjöar, Asträsk, Bogeviken, Bondansträsk, Fridträsk, Inre Stockviken, Mjölhatteträsk och Paviken, har måttlig ekologisk status. 15 av de 32 undersökta vattendragen har hög eller god ekologisk status, medan nio vattendrag, Burgsvikenån, Gothemsån, Ireån, Halorån, Lummelundaån, Närkån, Snoderån, Vägumeån samt Västergarnsån, har måttlig ekologisk status. Vidare har ekologisk status inte kunnat bestämmas för åtta vattendrag, då inte tillräckligt med data funnits för att kunna genomföra en rättvis bedömning. Samtliga sjöar och vattendrag som har måttlig ekologisk status, förutom Bondansträsk, har erhållit denna bedömning på grund av alltför höga halter respektive transporter av näringsämnena kväve och fosfor. Bondansträsk har fått detta omdöme eftersom tillstånd och avvikelse från jämförvärde för fisk inte är helt bra.</p>