EEA updates interactive water quality maps

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The European Environmental Agency (EEA) announced on July 25 an update to its series of interactive virtual maps on water quality around Europe.

The EAA was created by the European Union to help the EU and its member states make decisions regarding the environment and sustainability.

The agency publishes a series of interactive maps on European water quality based on the latest available data from each country; these maps are free to access and, according to the EEA, are designed to be used by either "water professionals" or "anyone with an interest in environmental issues affecting their local river, lake or sea."

On July 25, the EEA announced updates to four of these data sets - Transitional, costal and marine waters (TCM), Rivers and lakes, Groundwater and Urban waste water. The updates, according to the EEA, are designed to make the maps more compact and give them a more user-friendly appearance. Specific changes include the ability to quickly switch between maps of different pollutants and the inclusion of national level overviews dating back several years.

Each of the four updated maps can be accessed via either the EEA home page ( http://www.eea.europa.eu) or the links below:

TCM - http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/themes/water/interactive/soe-tcm
Rivers and lakes -   http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/themes/water/interactive/soe-rl
Groundwater - http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/themes/water/interactive/soe-gw
Urban waste water - http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/themes/water/interactive/soe-wfd/uwwtd

Further information about the quality of Europe's environment can be accessed by members of the public via the following links:

Ozone pollution - http://www.eea.europa.eu/maps/ozone/map
Air pollution - http://www.airqualitynow.eu/ 
UV Index - http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/europe/europe_uv.html