Large deep lakes (mostly glaciated lakes) play a very important role for the water supply of several regions in Europe.  In contrast to the very detailed water management strategies concerning small lakes, river basins, or more locally, catchment areas these „small oceans“ have not been subject to such a detailed integrated inter-disciplinary approach. Local initiatives which combine management efforts for a lake and its surrounding water basin have concentrated mainly on site-specific problems. 

One major aim of this project was the qualitative and quantitative identification of conflicting uses of the lakes and the lakes‘ basins where undoubtedly the drinking water aspect is of primary but not exclusive importance. Here solutions for these conflicts have been sought with minor overall disadvantages. Moreover some scientific investigations were essential in this field to look at annual or even longer-term evolution of key processes in such lakes and their associated catchment areas. As a consequence of project investigations recommendations for European legislation and guidelines have been drawn to further water resource management objectives on the river basin scale.

For detailed information on the results of the EUROLAKES project please visit the Key Results.

EUROLAKES had the following main objectives: 

1. Improving strategies concerning long-term management, short-term pollution control, and integrated monitoring regarding deep European lakes and their catchment areas:  This will be accomplished by assessing available local experiences, defining appropriate model studies and integrating results for planning priorities, and environmental and socio-economic benefits in the investigation sites selected.




2. Describing the seasonal and intra-annual dynamics and quantifying of key processes and parameters in deep European lakes such as key parameters from both nutrient pathways, i.e. dissolved and particulate organic carbon and heterotrophic bacteria for the „organic pathway“ and phosphate, nitrate and phytoplanktonic cells for the „mineral pathway“ and zooplankton as the integrative level of both preceding pathways of matter and energy fluxes.




3. Establishing additional ecological criteria to substantiate water and ecosystem quality targets for the management and policies in deep lakes and their surroundings concentrating on issues like annual best zooplankton quality or the wave impact on bank erosion/ reed destruction.




4. Generalisation of a combined water quality lake/catchment management model to assess the impact of changing uses where main factors investigated will be water intakes, land use, and tourism.

    
   

5. Recommendations to support European legislation and especially the EU Water Framework Directive. The recommendations will consider the specific problems and circumstances of integrated water management of deep lakes in connection with their respective catchment areas.