Large deep lakes form a special set of lakes in Europe with specific characteristics that distinguish them from smaller, shallower lakes. These characteristics lead consequentially to specific sensitivities and impacts on their ecological structure and functioning.

The specific physico-chemical and biological characteristics of such lakes and the "Key Processes” that drive their hydrodynamics and ecological functioning are the subject of this report.

Within the deliverable “Strategies”, good examples of managerial and monitoring strategies of Loch Lomond, Lake Constance and Lac Léman are described. Water and catchment management combined with appropriate monitoring strategies of these lakes led to considerable improvement of the status of the lakes. It is expected that by learning from these examples one can improve the status of other large deep lakes in Europe.

The report D31 addresses the ecological monitoring requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). It aims to substantiate "Ecological (water quality) Criteria" and make recommendations for the improvement of environmental indicators and meta-indicators in relation to the monitoring and assessment of large, deep lakes and their catchments. For WFD purposes it is essential to select ecological indicators according to their sensitivity to specific pressures. In D36 "Additional Ecological Criteria" are elaborated.

Within the EUROLAKES project an integrated water resource management tool for lakes managers, decision makers and possibly stakeholders has been provided. In this context, integrated means that the tool integrates most of the different results and information available for the lake and the catchment area (maps, graphs, mathematical models, photos, database, etc.). Concerning Lac du Bourget, sampling measurements and models results are presented in a Geographical Information System (GIS) which has been developed using MapInfo as a prototype. This tool incorporates both catchment area and lake information with special emphasis on available sampling data, environmental indicators, modelling possibilities and user needs. To expand its applicability a prototype DST for Loch Lomond based on the Lac du Bourget version using ArcView has been produced. This gives the opportunity to determine which facilities of the tool are generically important for all sites and which are site specific thereby broadening the capacity of the DST. It also gives the chance to increase the functionality of the tool.