Council Directive 78/659/EEC on the quality of fresh waters needing protection or improvement in order to support fish life.

This Directive concerns the quality of fresh waters and applies to those waters designated by the Member States as needing protection or improvement in order to support fish life. This Directive shall not apply to waters in natural or artificial fish ponds used for intensive fish farming. The aim of this Directive is to protect or improve the quality of those running or standing fresh waters which support or which, if pollution were reduced or eliminated, would become capable of supporting fish belonging to: indigenous species offering a natural diversity, or species the presence of which is judged desirable for water management purposes by the competent authorities of the Member States. The physical and chemical parameters applicable to the waters designated by the Member States are listed in Annex I. For the purposes of applying these parameters; waters are divided into salmonid waters and cyprinid waters. The competent authorities in the Member States shall carry out sampling operations, the minimum frequency of which is laid down in Annex I.