EN 17123:2018

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-maj-2019
.DNRYRVWYRGH1DYRGLOR]DGRORþHYDQMHVWRSQMHVSUHPHQMHQRVWL
KLGURPRUIRORãNLK]QDþLOQRVWLVRPRUQLFLQREDOQLKPRULM
Water quality - Guidance on determining the degree of modification of the
hydromorphological features of transitional and coastal waters
Wasserbeschaffenheit - Anleitung zur Bestimmung der Ausprägung
hydromorphologischer Merkmale der Übergangs- und Küstengewässer
Qualité de l'eau - Document d'orientation sur la détermination du degré d'altération des
caractéristiques hydromorphologiques des eaux de transition et des eaux côtières
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 17123:2018
ICS:
07.060 Geologija. Meteorologija. Geology. Meteorology.
Hidrologija Hydrology
13.060.10 Voda iz naravnih virov Water of natural resources
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EN 17123
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
December 2018
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 07.060; 13.060.10
English Version
Water quality - Guidance on determining the degree of
modification of the hydromorphological features of
transitional and coastal waters
Qualité de l'eau - Guide pour la détermination du degré Wasserbeschaffenheit - Anleitung zur Bestimmung der
de modification des caractéristiques Ausprägung hydromorphologischer Merkmale der
hydromorphologiques des eaux de transition et des Übergangs- und Küstengewässer
eaux côtières
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 5 October 2018.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this
European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references
concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN
member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by
translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management
Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2018 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN 17123:2018 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 Principle . 11
5 Determining the hydromorphological modifications of transitional and coastal
waters . 11
5.1 Survey strategy . 11
5.2 Defining hydromorphological units . 13
5.3 Procedure for scoring . 13
6 Interpreting and reporting hydromorphological modifications . 14
6.1 Minimum requirements for reporting . 14
6.2 Assigning classification terms . 15
Annex A (normative) Protocol for scoring . 16
Annex B (normative) Formulae for use in quantitative scoring of selected features . 37
Bibliography . 39

European foreword
This document (EN 17123:2018) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 230 “Water
analysis”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.
This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an
identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by June 2019, and conflicting national standards shall be
withdrawn at the latest by June 2019.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the
following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Introduction
This document will enable broad assessments and comparisons to be made of the hydromorphological
modifications of Transitional (estuaries, lagoons, etc) and Coastal waters (TraC waters) throughout
Europe (e.g. for reporting by the European Environment Agency). These systems have been increasingly
influenced by human activities over many centuries and hence the modifications relate to historical and
recent developments that are superimposed over the natural and large-scale changes and variability
experienced by these systems.
This document attempts to acknowledge the particular spatial and temporal heterogeneity of coastal
and transitional systems. TraC systems are dominated by multi-directional processes (waves acting in
different directions, as well as bi-directional tidal flows operating at differing tidal levels, which can be
further complicated by variable wind orientation). As a result, the natural variability within coastal and
transitional water bodies can often be significant in spatial and temporal scales, which need to be
reflected during comparisons against natural baselines or reference conditions.
European Directives such as the Water Framework Directive (WFD)[ref 1] and the Marine Strategy
Framework Directive (MSFD) [ref 2] require Member States to determine that hydromorphological and
physico-chemical conditions should be suitable for supporting biological assemblages; the WFD and
MSFD in turn require Member States to indicate, respectively, that good ecological status and good
environmental status have been attained. The MSFD descriptors, criteria and indicators include
hydromorphological features.
EN 16503 (Water quality — Guidance standard on assessing the hydromorphological features of
transitional and coastal waters) describes a protocol for field survey and feature recording, whereas this
standard gives guidance on assessing the modification of TraC hydromorphological features. It focuses
especially on human pressures that affect TraC waters and thus will be valuable for implementing the
WFD by indicating the extent to which these pressures will cause a departure from hydromorphological
reference conditions.
Although the procedure described in this document enables the hydromorphological modification of
TraC waters to be determined and described, it does not attempt either to describe methods for
defining high status for hydromorphology under the WFD or to link broadscale hydromorphological
classification to assessments of ecological status. In addition to its relevance to the WFD and MSFD, this
standard has applications also for nature conservation, environmental impact assessment, river basin
management, flood and erosion risk assessment (e.g. the EC Floods Directive) [ref 3] and setting targets
for restoration. In addition, for the Habitats Directive [ref 4] there is a need to maintain certain
“features” in favourable condition, which has also given rise to a focus on hydromorphological
assessments.
(Note that in this standard, “assessment” is used as a broad term referring to the general description of
features and the pressures affecting them. It is not used to imply the judgement of particular levels of
“quality” or “value”, whether related to status under the WFD, MSFD or more generally.)
WARNING — Safety issues are paramount when surveying transitional and coastal waters. This
European Standard does not purport to address all of the safety problems, if any, associated with
its use. It is the responsibility of the user to establish appropriate health and safety practices
and to ensure compliance with any EU and national regulatory conditions or guidelines.
IMPORTANT — Persons using this document should be familiar with usual laboratory and
fieldwork practice. It is absolutely essential that tests conducted according to this document be
carried out by suitably trained staff.
1 Scope
This document provides guidance on characterizing the modifications of the hydromorphological
features of TraC waters described in EN 16503, enabling consistent comparisons of
hydromorphological modification between TraC waters within a country and between different
countries in Europe. Its primary aim is to assess "departure from naturalness" as a result of human
pressures on TraC hydromorphology, and it suggests suitable sources of information that may
contribute to describing the modification of hydromorphological features. The procedures set out in
this standard will encourage the objective assessment and reporting of the variability in transitional
and coastal waters, and contribute to the work needed to implement the WFD and the MSFD; however,
it does not replace methods that have been developed for local assessment and reporting.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given and the following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1
attribute
specific recorded element of a hydromorphological feature
EXAMPLE “Silt” and “boulders” are natural substrate attributes, “sheet piling” and “gabions” are attributes of
engineered banks.
[SOURCE: EN 16039:2011, definition 3.2]
3.2
bathymetry
shape of the sea-bed as measured by the distribution of depth
3.3
beach nourishment
artificial process of replenishing the beach using marine sediment (e.g. sand) to increase the
recreational value or to protect the beach against erosion
3.4
bedform pattern
morphology of the sea bed
Note 1 to entry: Refers to the morphology of soft bottoms. The bedform patterns may be simple or complex
depending on the size and shape of the system and the nature of the local sediment transport processes.
Deposition produces features such as sand and gravel bars, while erosion results in scour features.
[SOURCE: EN 16503:2014, definition 2.4]
3.5
biogenic reef
mass consisting of the hard parts of organisms, or of a biogenically constructed frame enclosing detrital
particles, in a body of water
Note 1 to entry: Most biogenic reefs are made of corals or associated organisms.
[SOURCE: EN 16503:2014, definition 2.5]
3.6
biogenic structure
structure formed by organisms that when grouped together create physical habitats (e.g. reefs) or
stabilize sediments (e.g. seagrass beds, mussel beds)
3.7
breakwater
artificial structure used in coast protection to reduce wave energy
3.8
coastal cell
length of coastline confined by natural or artificial barriers across which little or no sediment is
transported
3.9
coastal water
surface water on the landward side of a line, every point of which is at a distance of one nautical mile on
the seaward side from the nearest point of the baseline from which the breadth of territorial waters is
measured, extending where appropriate up to the outer limit of transitional waters
Note 1 to entry: This definition from Article 2 of the EC Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) is one
example of a definition of “coastal water” used for legal purposes.
3.10
connectivity
linkage within and between water bodies and between water and land through exchange of water,
sediment and organisms
[SOURCE: EN 16503:2014, definition 2.9, modified]
3.11
delta
landform that forms from deposition of sediment carried by a river as the flow leaves its mouth and
e
...