Lakes and Watercourses

Environmental
Quality Criteria
The vision of an ecologically sustainable society includes protection of
human health, preservation of biodiversity, conservation of valuable natural
and historical settings, an ecologically sustainable supply and efficient use of
energy and other natural resources. In order to determine how well basic
environmental quality objectives and more precise objectives are being met,
it is necessary to continuously monitor and evaluate the state of the
environment.
Environmental monitoring has been conducted for many years at
both the national and regional levels. But, particularly at the regional level,
assessments and evaluations of current conditions have been hindered by
a lack of uniform and easily accessible data on baseline values, environmental
effects, etc.
This report is one of six in a series which purpose is to fill that information
gap, by enabling counties and municipalities to make comparatively
reliable assessments of environmental quality. The reports can thus
be used to provide a basis for environmental planning, and for the setting
of local and regional environmental objectives.
The series bears the general heading of “ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
CRITERIA”, and includes the following titles: The Forest Landscape, The Agricultural
Landscape, Groundwater, Lakes and Watercourses, Coasts and Seas, and
Contaminated Sites. Taken together, the six reports cover most of the natural
ecosystems and other types of environment found in Sweden. It should be
noted, however, that coverage of wetlands, mountains and urban environments
is incomplete.
Each of the reports includes assessment criteria for a selection of parameters
relating to objectives and threats that are associated with the
main subject of the report. The selected parameters are, for the most part,
the same as those used in connection with national and regional environmental
monitoring programmes; but there are also some “new” parameters
that are regarded as important in the assessment of environmental
quality.
Most of the parameters included in the series describe current conditions
in natural environments, e.g. levels of pollution, while direct measures
of human impacts, such as the magnitude of emissions, are generally not
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