Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

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The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation and SDG 15 on protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of land; which are embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the 'European Green Deal'. 

Among other things, SDG 6 calls for ensuring universal access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, and ending open defecation. It also aims at improving water quality and water-use efficiency and encouraging sustainable abstractions and supply of freshwater. DG 15 seeks to protect, restore and promote the conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial, inland water and mountain ecosystems. 

The indicator can be considered as part of the global SDG indicator 6.3.2 "Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality".

Protection of water resources, water ecosystems and of drinking and bathing water is at the cornerstone of EU environmental policy. EU water policy provides a framework to comprehensively address water protection and for achieving good status for inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. The Water Framework Directive is the main European legislation aiming to prevent water pollution. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 supports the implementation of the Water Framework Directive’s objective by requiring Member States to restore freshwater ecosystems.

The 8th Environment Action Programme sets the environmental policy agenda for the years from 2021 to 2030 and explicitly mentions water-related issues in two of its six priority objectives. These two objectives are: (1) pursuing a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic free-environment, including for air, water and soil and protecting the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts; and (2) protecting, preserving and restoring biodiversity and enhancing natural capital, notably air, water, soil, and forest, freshwater, wetland and marine ecosystems.

Indicator refers to concentration of phosphate (PO₄) in the dissolved phase of water samples, measured as milligrams per litre (mg PO₄/L). Data are taken from river sites and aggregated to annual average values.

At high levels, phosphate can cause water quality problems, such as eutrophication, by triggering the growth of macrophytes and algae.

For time series analyses, only complete series after inter/extrapolation are presented. As measuring stations change over time, this leads to a recalculation of the whole indicator with each update.Complete series 2000 – 2021 are based on a total of 693 river sites (605 within 16 EU Member States). These river sites are distributed over the following countries (number of sites in parentheses): Belgium (28), Bulgaria (53), Czechia (10), Denmark (39), Estonia (37), Ireland (33), Spain (46), Croatia (23), Italy (18), Latvia (16), Lithuania (22), Romania (88), Slovenia (8), Slovakia (6), Finland (66), Sweden (112), Iceland (1), Norway (18), Switzerland (16), North Macedonia (17), Albania (3) and Serbia (33).

The aggregate for EU_V include data for the following 16 EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

mg PO₄ per litre.

Calendar year.

Indicator from non-ESS source. For assessment of accuracy please refer to the original source (see link to external data source and metadata in section “Annexes”).

The indicator is relative robust in presenting the overall trend and spatial variation in water quality, however, the distribution of river sites might not be representative within the countries. There is less than one river site per 1 000 km2 in all reporting countries. The number of monitoring sites compared to the country size is particularly low in Spain, Italy, Iceland and Norway (more than 10 000 km2 per monitoring site).

EEA (Waterbase database)

Data source: EEA Waterbase database on Water Quality ICM.

Data provider: European Environment Agency (EEA)

Every year

The indicator is updated annually.

T+2 years

< 75% EU MS or no EU aggregate

Data are presented for the EU Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden and Finland; plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia.

< 75% EU MS

The data for the reporting countries are only comparable within the limits of the weighting of the different number of samples per country. See also overall accuracy under point 4.4.

> 10 years

Presented time series starts in 2000.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

See table  sdg_06_50

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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