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2.4.     Water bodies

The WFD requires that waters within each river basin district be differentiated into water categories: groundwater, rivers, lakes, transitional waters and coastal waters. These waters are then further sub-divided depending on their type, based on natural factors (such as altitude, longitude, geology and size) that might influence ecological communities. This division forms the basis of water bodies. Water bodies are the basic management units for reporting and assessing compliance with the WFDs environmental objectives.

The EU Member States now has reported 12 600 groundwater bodies and more than 100 000 surface water bodies: 80% of them rivers, 15% lakes and 5% coastal and transitional waters (Table 2.5). All Member States have reported groundwater bodies; 23 Member States, all reporting Member States except Malta have reported river water bodies, 21 Member States have reported lake water bodies, and 15 and 19 Member States have reported transitional and coastal water bodies, respectively.