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Pollution pressures from diffuse sources are reported for 30-40% of the classified water bodies in rivers and transitional waters, but only for ca. 20% of the classified water bodies in lakes and coastal waters (figure 5.3).  The relatively low proportion of water bodies reported with diffuse pressures is caused by the high number of water bodies in Sweden and Finland located in remote areas with low population density and only small areas of intensive agriculture.  The proportion of water bodies affected by diffuse source pollution would much higher if the water bodies affected by general diffuse pollution from Sweden were included, because all their water bodies are reported to be exposed to airborne pollution of contaminants, primarily mercury. The reason is that Sweden has used the biota standard for mercury of the new EQS directive to classify the chemical status of their water bodies, whereas other member states have used the “old” standards for mercury in water. Thus, in Sweden virtually all water bodies are in less than good chemical status due to mercury in fish. As this mercury pressure and impact may be less relevant for the ecological status, and also prevent the comparison of diffuse source pollution reported from other countries, it is important to show the picture without these data.