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Aquatic environment: Improved conditions for animals and plants in Danish water bodies
The state of Danish water bodies is slowly improving. Due to effective wastewater treatment plants and reduced leaching of nutrients from the farmland, nutrient loading of the aquatic environment is now considerably lower than 20 years ago. In some places the plants and animals are already benefiting from an improved aquatic environment, but in many water bodies the level of pollution is still too high according to the latest results of the Danish Aquatic Monitoring and Assessment Programme NOVA 2003.
Since the mid 1980s, Denmark has been working to reduce pollution of the aquatic environment from towns, industry and agriculture. These efforts are slowly bearing fruit. Danes now discharge far less nutrients in wastewater, and less nitrogen leaches from farmland than before. Among other things this has resulted in a decrease in the nitrogen content of the upper, newly formed groundwater in areas with sandy soil. Moreover, the ecological and environmental state of several of the Danish lakes, estuaries and coastal waters has improved to the benefit of plants and animals.
In many places the quality of the water is still far from the quality objectives set, however. Among other reasons, this is due to the fact that it will take some years before the efforts to reduce nutrient loading are fully implemented and they take their full effect on the aquatic environment. Moreover, there are differences between the individual water bodies and the pressure that they can tolerate.
Further information: Jens Møller Andersen, National Environmental Research Institute. Phone: +45 8920 1741. E-mail: jea@dmu.dk
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