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Comparability of overall status assessments
The WFD objectives for all water bodies are expressed as overall good water status, encompassing both chemical and ecological status for surface waters and chemical and quantitative status for groundwater. Each of these status assessments includes a number of quality elements/-determinants. The WFD uses the “one-out-all-out” principle in assessing water bodies (i.e., the worst status of the elements used in the assessment determines the overall status of the water body).
If only the overall status assessment or the aggregated status (ecological and chemical) are used, the progress achieved in some quality elements/determinants may be hidden by the lack of progress in others. This may result in an overly pessimistic view on the progress achieved by WFD implementation, in particular for those Member States, which have more developed, and comprehensive assessment schemes, which include many elements. In some cases, the lack of development of assessment methods in the first cycle, or from incomplete intercalibration may also have made the results from the first RBMPs less confident.
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First sentence:
Please change the content of this sentence - no "overall good status" is reported to the EU-Commission. The WfD does not contain a "overall good status" per definition. According to the WfD each water body need to be in "good ecological status / potential" and in "good chemical status".
"If only the overall status assessment or the aggregated status (ecological and chemical) are used, the progress achieved in some quality elements/determinants may be hidden by the lack of progress in others."
Please change the content of this sentence - no "overall good status" is reported to the EU-Commission. The WfD does not contain a "overall good status" per definition. According to the WfD each water body need to be in "good ecological status / potential" and in "good chemical status".
Please delete the word "overall" in the title.
"The WFD objectives for all water bodies are expressed as overall good water status, encompassing both chemical and ecological status for surface waters and chemical and quantitative status for groundwater." should be replaced as follows "The WFD objectives for all water bodies are expressed as good water status, encompassing both chemical status and ecological status/potential for surface waters and chemical and quantitative status for groundwater."
"The WFD uses the “one-out-all-out” principle in assessing water bodies (i.e., the worst status of the elements used in the assessment determines the overall status of the water body). If only the overall status assessment or the aggregated status (ecological and chemical) are used, the progress achieved in some quality elements/determinants may be hidden by the lack of progress in others." should be replaced as follows "The WFD uses the “one-out-all-out” principle in assessing water bodies (i.e., the worst status of the elements used in the assessment determines the overall status of the water body) and the progress achieved in some quality elements/determinants may be hidden by the lack of progress in others."