Assessment of the hydromorphological status of river water bodies in the Czech Republic using HYMOS methodology

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15310%2F25%3A73634479" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15310/25:73634479 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.vtei.cz/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/6717-VTEI-2-Babej-AJ.pdf" target="_blank" >https://www.vtei.cz/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/6717-VTEI-2-Babej-AJ.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.46555/VTEI.2025.01.003" target="_blank" >10.46555/VTEI.2025.01.003</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Assessment of the hydromorphological status of river water bodies in the Czech Republic using HYMOS methodology

Original language description

Assessment of the hydromorphological status and its elements (hydrological regime, continuity, morphological conditions) is part of the monitoring of the ecological status of water bodies. Hydromorphology, as a supporting component of biological assessment, has a significant impact on living organisms in aquatic ecosystems. Although the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic (MoE) previously officially approved a methodology for monitoring and assessing the hydromorphological status of waterbodies (HEM methodology), it was only used to a limited extent. In the caseof the third river basin management plans, hydromorphology was assessed exclusively based on remote sensing data according to the Procedure for Determining Significant Impacts on Morphology and Hydrological Regime. Based on the Ministry’s request, a new methodology for assessingthe hydromorphological status of water bodies category rivers (HYMOS) was developed within the TA CR project. This methodology takes into account new requirements and current knowledge in the field of hydromorphology, while also minimizing the drawbacks of previous methodologies, particularly regarding time and cost efficiency in the assessment process. The final version of the methodology was tested on 15 water bodies divided into 50 reaches. A score was calculated for each of these reaches to assess the hydrological regime, continuity, morphological conditions, and overall hydromorphological status. Subsequently, a score for the entire water body was determined, including classification into a status category. The assessment results indicated that for large watercour- ses, where anthropogenic influences are reflected over long reaches, the aggregatedvalue for the entire water body often provides sufficiently meaningful information. In contrast, for water bodies including small and medium-sized watercourses, which are heterogeneous in terms of hydromorphological types and anthropogenic pressures, assessments at the water body level are overly aggregated and fail to identify critical segments. While reporting the status of water bodies requires presenting data for the entire water body, designing measures to improve hydromorphological status benefits from working with detailed reach-level data. Therefore, the HYMOS methodology combines detailed and aggregated approaches, making it a flexible tool suitable for both strategic planning at the water body level and for assessing local reaches in relation to implemented or planned measures.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_SC - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Project

<a href="/en/project/SS05010135" target="_blank" >SS05010135: Development of the methodology for monitoring and assessing the hydromorphological characteristics of watercourses</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Vodohospodářské technicko-ekonomické informace

ISSN

0322-8916

e-ISSN

1805-6555

Volume of the periodical

67

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Number of pages

11

Pages from-to

30-40

UT code for WoS article

—

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105007318263