Alpheios

Classification of the Alpheios

In their 2003 master plan for the management of Greek water resources, the then Hellenic Ministry of Development, one of the many Greek governmental agencies that have been responsible for the monitoring and care of Greek rivers, noted that of the 765 recorded rivers in Greece, 45 were permanently flowing, of which the Alpheios is one. Although the Greek government had been monitoring some rivers since the 1970s, classification and monitoring of rivers was not mandated by the European Union until the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of 2000. The EU was interested in identifying quality problems with the waters of Europe and rescuing degraded waters. The Hellenic Center for Marine Research (HCMR) therefore added the study of water quality in Greece to its previously existing AQEM program. Select river sites were monitored for three seasons of 2000–2001, spring, summer, and winter, the results appearing in an online report of 2005.