Lessons learned from a partnership between the university of liège and water agencies for the management of surface water quality

Abstract

An innovative partnership has been established between a university team (R&D unit of Aquapôle, University of Liège) and public stakeholders managing surface water quality (Water Agencies and Administrations) in order to develop a mathematical model included in a software suite that meets the expectations of operators. This development strategy based on the needs of partners is a guarantee of success, directly benefiting from the quality improvement of aquatic environments. The partners have complementary missions consisting in the monitoring of aquatic environment and in scientific research. The research was carried out in the European context where public water policy has to be supported by robust knowledge to establish the relationships between the state of environment and the associated pressures. In this context, the PegOpera software suite is a tool supporting the management of surface water quality, from local scale to transnational level, up to the River Basin District scale. The main purpose of this operational tool is its ability to explicitly describe the pressure/impact relationships and to help Administrations in their planning missions through prospective simulation of measures (River Basin Management Plans in the scope of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC).