Hydrological hazards have a dynamic impact on the fluxes of matter in rivers –
including water, sediments, particulate or solute contaminants. Whenever the fluxes change due to such disturbances, both the physical and biological river systems develop towards new equilibrium conditions.
It is obvious that hydrological hazards potentially affect the biological, physical and chemical quality components of rivers and thus their ecological status according to the EUWFD (EU Water Framework Directive). However, the parameter assessment and evaluation methods within the EU-WFD are not specifically targeting hazardous events, disturbances or alternate equilibrium regimes.
To give an overview and to introduce the ecological perspective on hydrological
hazards, we give a summary of the actual ecological status of rivers in Austria and the main requirements for achieving the EU-WFD goals. Further, we will deduce near-future challenges to the EU-WFD due to expected climatic changes and weather extremes. If such challenges may be handled, the Austrian way of implementation of the EU-WFD will be reviewed based
on the national guidelines for evaluating the biological quality components.
