While on average 40% of water bodies in Europe are in good condition, in Latvia only 33% of waters are considered to be of good quality, explained Jānis Šīre, administrative manager of the “LIFE” project “GoodWater IP”, to the programme “Vides fakti”. Within the framework of the project, nine sites have been identified where the goal is to achieve good water quality.
Deterioration in quality is primarily caused by three factors: firstly, point-source pollution entering waters from treatment plants or manufacturing companies; the second cause is hydromorphological modifications such as weirs, dams and straightened rivers. Diffuse or non-point source pollution, which mostly enters waters through groundwater and is generated by the agricultural and forestry sectors, also plays a significant role in this regard.
There are four river basins in the territory of Latvia – Lielupe, Daugava, Gauja and Venta – and management plans are being developed for each basin district. These plans include information on the state of the water, potential sources of pollution risk and what must be done to reduce existing pollution or at least prevent it from increasing.
(...) The demonstration areas for the project will be the lakes Sauka, Lubāns and Pape, as well as six rivers – Aģe, Mergupe, Slocene, Auce, Eda and Zaņa. In each of these areas, investigations will be carried out to identify the reasons why water quality has deteriorated and to find solutions for improvement. One of the problems is the overgrowth of rivers, which is largely caused by agricultural activity.