The species diversity and dominant species proportions of the macrozoobenthos (invertebrates living on the river bottom) is an indicator of water quality, and of the quantity and quality of habitat structures in a water body. The increasing establishment of thermophilic invasive…
Diatoms are microscopic small single-celled algae. Due to their great species diversity, their widespread occurrence and their sensitivity concerning the physical-chemical characteristics of their habitat they are excellent bio-indicators. During 2018/2019, 340 species of benthic…
Aquatic macrophytes (aquatic plants) may be used to assess the substance pollution of rivers, but they also reflect interferences with the discharge regime and structural conditions in water bodies. Within the measurement programme 2018/2019, 49 sampling stations were analysed,…
Plankton are mostly microscopic small organisms floating in the water. The major share of aquatic vegetation here consists of single-celled algae, the so-called phytoplankton. In 2018, within the Rhine monitoring programme ‘Biology’, the phytoplankton of the Rhine was analysed…
In the Rhine basin, the year 2018 was marked by a pronounced precipitation deficit in the months from February to November. Initially, this resulted in a marked low water level in the smaller bodies of water and increasingly in the course of the year also in the entire Rhine,…
In 2017, the ICPR conducted a special monitoring programme that included both target analysis and non-target analysis. Here, at each of 21 measuring points located in the main stream of the Rhine, as well as in the tributaries, 4 samples were collected. Based on the…
The International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) has published recommendations on how states in the Rhine catchment can further reduce micropollutant inputs into waters. They particularly concern the areas of wastewater collection and wastewater treatment…
During 2014 and 2015 the ICPR has implemented a first joint monitoring programme on the contamination of biota (fish) with pollutants in the Rhine catchment (see ICPR technical report no. 216). This pilot project has been evaluated by the Fraunhofer Institut in collaboration with…
The technical report No. 251 follows on the reports on the evaluation and development of the Rhine water quality 2009-2012 (ICPR technical report No. 220) and 2013 - 2014 (ICPR technical report No. 239). The report takes into account the different international water quality…
During the first half of the last century periods of low water on the Rhine were distinctly more pronounced. Discharges were lower, and low flow periods lasted longer than in the past 50 years. The perception that low water occurs more often than in the past is not correct.…
