Béla Kiss shows the macro-invertebrate sample, collected with a standard hand net, to participants in the training programme of ECOSURV in Western Hungary.

With the assistance of an international consortium led by ARCADIS Euroconsult, Hungary has set the standard for ecological monitoring in compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD).

"The main goals of the ECOSURV project were to develop methods for quantitative sampling of all Biological Quality Elements (BQEs), to perform a nation-wide field survey, to validate the typology of surface waters with ecological data, to assess the current ecological status, and to build a sound ecological database," says Zsuzsa Steindl, project leader of the Ministry of Environment and Water.

ECOSURV is the first in Europe to develop WFDcompliant monitoring methods and to execute an integrated nation-wide survey for all BQEs: fish, macro-invertebrates, macrophytes, phytoplankton and phytobenthos, for running and standing waters.

"Hungary now has information on the actual ecological status of water bodies," says Gyula Holló, Hungary's water director. "Although sites were sampled only once in 2005, these results give better status estimation than we ever had. ECOSURV has given us the tools we need to comply with WFD ecological monitoring requirements." For more information please visit: www.eu-wfd.info/ecosurv.

Rob Nieuwenhuis
is a consultant with ARCADIS Euroconsult.
He was Team Leader of ECOSURV between September 2004 and November 2005.