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Although the Water Framework Directive and the Nitrates Directive in combination require reduction of nutrients and hazardous substances, those substances are still used. Floodplains commonly act as long term storage for water and sediments including those less desirable and hazardous substances. Nutrients and hazardous substances reaches floodplains from either the landside, from the river during floods, or from the atmosphere. Agricultural plant production uses nutrients and pesticides to promote plant growth. Often more nutrients are applied than taken up by plants, and unused nutrients are moved into streams either via groundwater (nitrates), or as attached to soil particles and moved with surface run-off (phosphorus). Those nutrients may cause eutrophication impacts on the floodplain but may also buffer against eutrophication impacts in the river. Active floodplains where vegetation is more prominent cycle nutrients into plants, and if soils are water logged, enable denitrification to take place. In the absence of an active floodplain, nutrients enters the river with less transformations and may cause eutrophication related impact on ecological status of rivers, lakes, transitional, and coastal waters.