Water Framework Directive and Modelling Using PEGOPERA Simulation Software

Abstract

The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) established a framework for community action in the field of water policy. To implement the WFD, the competent authorities for watershed management should use modelling techniques to establish, for example, the pressure/impacts relationship. The PegOpera modelling tool (composed of the water quality model Pegase and a friendly Graphical User Interface), has been developed in order to be compliant with the requirements of the WFD. Pegase is a physicochemical model describing the behaviour of whole river systems, at various scales, from tens to tens of thousands km². The specificity of the model is its ability to work at a high spatial resolution not only for small river basins (water body level), but also for large drainage networks. Already used by several basin management competent authorities, the PegOpera modelling tool proved to be an efficient tool for helping in surface water management from local up to the international district level and is therefore an operational numerical tool for WFD implementation.