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A clean water is imperative for the production of high quality food products and an absolutely essential element to ensure the commercial success of the Galician shellfish. Nowadays, the protection of the coastal marine environment must take into account the legislative framework created by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (Directive 2000/60/EC), the Marine Strategy Directive (MSD) (Directive 2008/56/EC), and the water quality standards updated by Directive 2013/39/EU.

Ecotox, in collaboration with the Environmental Quality Unit of the ECIMAT, offers services related with Monitoring water quality and chemical and microbial pollution:

1. WFD CLASSIFICATION OF ECOLOGICAL STATUS OF WATER BODIES

WFD establishes for the biological indicators 5 categories of quality (high, good, moderate, poor y bad), from lower to higher human alteration of the reference conditions, with their corresponding color code (Table 1).

2. A PRIORI RISK ASSESSMENT OF NEW CHEMICALS/MATERIALS, AND DERIVATION OF THEIR WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

According to REACH procedures, the basic aquatic toxicity data-set is conducted with organisms belonging to three trophic levels:

3. BIOASSAYS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF HARBOUR DREDGING MATERIALS
Management of harbour dredged materials in Spain should include an evaluation of the material’s toxicity using bacterial bioluminescence, sea-urchin and amphipod bioassays according to the guidelines: Directrices para la caracterización del material dragado y su reubicación en aguas del dominio público marítimo-terrestre. COMISIÓN INTERMINISTERIAL DE ESTRATEGIAS MARINAS 2014.

4. MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF WATERS

Directive 2006/7/EC establishes microbial requirements for transitional and coastal bathing waters on the basis of intestinal enterococci and E. coli (ISO 9308-1:2014).