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River monitoring programs worldwide consistently unveil micropollutant concentrations (pesticide, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals) exceeding regulatory quality targets with deteriorating effects on aquatic communities. However, both the composition and individual concentrations of micropollutants are likely to vary with the catchment land use, in particular regarding urban and agricultural area as the primary sources of micropollutants. In this study, we used a dataset of 109 governmental monitoring sites with micropollutants monitored across the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, to investigate the relationship between high-resolution catchment land use (distinguishing urban, forested and grassland area as well as 22 different agricultural crop types) and 39 micropollutants using Linear Mixed Models (LMMs). Ecotoxicological risks were indicated for mixtures of pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals for 100 % and for pesticides for 55 % of the sites. The proportion of urban area in the catchment was positively related with concentrations of most pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals (R2 up to 0.54), whereas the proportions of grassland and forested areas generally showed negative relations. Cropland overall showed weak positive relationships with micropollutant concentrations (R2 up to 0.29). Individual crop types, particularly vegetables and permanent crops, showed higher relations (R2 up to 0.46). The findings suggest that crop type-specific pesticide applications are mirrored in the detected micropollutant concentrations. This highlights the need for high-resolution spatial land use to investigate the magnitude and dynamics of micropollutant exposure and relevant pollution sources, which would remain undetected with highly aggregated land use classifications. Moreover, the findings imply the need for tailored management measures to reduce micropollutant concentrations from different sources and their related ecological effects. Urban point sources, could be managed by advanced wastewater treatment. The reduction of diffuse pollution from agricultural land uses requires additional measures, to prevent pesticides from entering the environment and exceeding regulatory quality targets.

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Hong Kong (HK), one of the world's most densely populated metropolises, is home to over 200 rivers and streams extending about 2500 km in length. During the 1970s-1990s, most of these rivers were converted into artificial canals, to which the local society pays little attention. Since the 2010s, the HK government has initiated river revitalization to enhance the social-environmental roles of rivers. This study employed a mixed research method, including literature and policy analysis, expert interviews, field visits, and a public survey, to identify key challenges in HK's Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM). The findings highlighted the lack of IRBM's institutional arrangements in HK, characterized by a fragmented 'one river, two systems' approach without both coordination and collaboration. The Water Supplies Department (WSD) impounds upland streams as reservoirs for securing the local water supply, while the Drainage Service Department (DSD) manages heavily channelized, culverted downstream serving as storm drains with diminished ecological functionality. One significant barrier to the implementation of IRBM in HK was the limited public participation, although our survey revealed a high level of public willingness to participate in river management. Presently, river revitalization efforts have achieved limited success, with ecological measures appearing mostly "cosmetic" and the conservation of freshwater biodiversity neglected. This further underscored the pressing need for the embracement of IRBM in HK to safeguard basin-wide freshwater ecosystems. Our survey also indicated low public awareness of river revitalization initiatives and widespread dissatisfaction with their outcomes. In conclusion, we proposed the development of IRBM in HK by instituting river basin coordination, prioritizing river ecosystem restoration in revitalization projects, and involving the public through tailored strategies.

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Given the many threats to freshwater biodiversity, we need to be able to resolve which of the multiple stressors present in rivers are most important in driving change. Phytoplankton are a key component of the aquatic ecosystem, their abundance, species richness and functional richness are important indicators of ecosystem health. In this study, spatial variables, physiochemical conditions, water flow alterations and land use patterns were considered as the joint stressors from a lowland rural catchment. A modeling approach combining an ecohydrological model with machine learning was applied. The results implied that land use and flow regime, rather than nutrients, were most important in explaining differences in the phytoplankton community. In particular, the percentage of water body area and medium level residential urban area were key to driving the rising phytoplankton abundance in this rural catchment. The proportion of forest and pasture area were the leading factors controlling the variations of species richness. In this case deciduous forest cover affected the species richness in a positive way, while, pasture share had a negative effect. Indicators of hydrological alteration were found to be the best predictors for the differences in functional richness. This integrated model framework was found to be suitable for analysis of complex environmental conditions in river basin management. A key message would be the significance of forest area preservation and ecohydrological restoration in maintaining both phytoplankton richness and their functional role in river ecosystems.

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Power relationships, access and control, (in)equity, and (in)justice are key modulators of conflicts arising from ecosystem services between multiple stakeholders. A greater knowledge of stakeholder value systems and behaviors is crucial for understanding socioecological dynamics. We propose an analytical framework that combines political ecology and game theory to analyze water ecosystem services. This integrated framework was used to reinterpret concepts such as common goods, (a)symmetric flows, and (un)fair trade-offs in the context of ecosystem services. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of behaviors and (a)symmetries in power relationships between multiple stakeholders. We studied the case of a north-western Mediterranean river basin using data obtained from stakeholder interviews and newspaper articles. Our findings uncovered different types of stakeholder relationships, ranging from mutual support and cooperation to conflict. The proposed analytical framework shows how social mechanisms can affect ecosystem services flows, potentially facilitating or hindering the development of more equitable management models for natural resources. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10745-022-00325-5.

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Successful river basin governance is challenged by actor engagement in the various stages of planning and management. A governance approach for determining priorities for actors for sustainable management was developed, based on a river basin diagnostic framework consisting of four social-institutional and four biophysical indicators. It was applied in river basins in Australia, Brazil, China and France. Actors diagnosed current and target capacity for these indicators, and estimated synergistic influences of interacting indicators. The results reveal different priorities and transformative pathways to achieve basin plan outcomes, specific to each basin and actor groups. Priorities include biodiversity for the Murray-Darling, local water management needs for the São Francisco and Yellow rivers, and improved decision-making for the Adour-Garonne. This novel approach challenges entrenched views about key issues and actor engagement roles in co-implementation of the basin plan under existing prevailing governance models, with implications for engagement and international collaboration on basin governance.

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Transboundary river basins across developing countries, such as the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB), are challenging to manage given frequent divergences on development and conservation priorities. Driven by needs to sustain economic performance and reduce poverty, the LMB countries are embarking on significant land use changes in the form of more hydropower dams, to satisfy growing energy demands. This pathway could lead to irreversible changes to the ecosystem of the Mekong River, if not properly managed. Given the uncertain environmental externalities and trade-offs associated with further hydropower development and operation in the LMB, this research develops four plausible scenarios of future hydropower operation, and assesses their likely impact on streamflow and instream total suspended solids and nitrate loads of the Mekong River. The findings suggest that further hydropower operations on either tributary or mainstream could result in annual and wet season flow reduction between 11 and 25% while increase dry season flows by 1 to 15%, when compared to a business-as-usual scenario. Conversely, hydropower operation on both tributary and mainstream could result in dry season flow reduction between 10 and 15%. Both instream TSS and nitrate loads are forecasted to reduce under all three scenarios by as much as 78 and 20%, respectively, compared to the business-as-usual one. These effects are predicted to magnify under extreme climate conditions with dry season flow, TSS, and nitrate levels reduced by as much as 44, 81 and 35%, respectively, during a projected extreme dry climate condition, but less severe under improved operational alternatives. With further hydropower development in the LMB being highly unavoidable, these findings can inform effective transboundary management pathways for balancing electricity generation and protection of riverine ecology, water and food security, and people livelihoods.

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Copper-containing antifouling paints (AFP) are widely used for leisure boat maintenance. Cu emitted from AFP into German surface water bodies has been suggested to be a significant source of heavy metal pollution, threatening water quality. We developed two scenarios to model Cu emissions from AFP applied on leisure boats on national scale, which allow identifying regional hotspots. The top-down approach (scenario A) was based on a previous study on national AFP consumption, while in the bottom-up approach (scenario B), median and interquartile range of Cu release rates depending on salinity conditions were considered for emission estimation. Both scenarios clearly highlighted the locally high emission pressure on inland waters in popular watersport regions, identifying these as requiring intense protection. Scenario B generally predicted lower Cu emissions (sea: 11.05-25.53 t a-1, inland: 14.15-34.59 t a-1) than scenario A (sea: 22.53 t a-1, inland: 47.97 t a-1). To evaluate their relevance, scenario results were compared to emissions modelled with MoRE (Modelling of Regionalized Emissions), which is used as reporting tool on substance emissions by Germany. According to scenarios A and B, the emission from AFP accounted for 13 % and 4-9 % of the total Cu emissions into inland waters in 2016, respectively. Scenario results were similar or higher than other emission pathways such as industrial direct dischargers. Thus, we consider Cu emissions from AFP as a significant pathway to be included in the MoRE emission inventory. We recommend scenario B for implementation as it allows a more flexible adaptation for future modelling.

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Creating institutions to manage shared waterways at the basin scale, instead of as a patchwork of fragmented political jurisdictions, has long held attraction for water managers and political scientists. Basin-scale planning, management, and governance, the scholarly consensus runs, can promote cooperative management of shared water resources, facilitate management on an ecological rather than political basis, and better engage a diverse set of stakeholders. Yet in practice, River Basin Management (RBM) has proven difficult to institute and often produced disappointing results, being either too weak to be effective or too technocratic. The case of the Delaware River basin in the United States is a noteworthy exception. RBM in the Delaware basin has taken the form of a capable but inclusive inter-jurisdictional commission that has almost eliminated previously widespread conflict between riparian states; generally improved water quality and ecosystem protection; and empowered civil society. Yet this effectiveness stemmed from a messy political process marked by tension and competition between central, state, and local levels of government. Harnessing this tension to forge a durable, adaptable institutional framework proved to be key to the relative success of RBM in the Delaware basin, providing lessons to inform the management of shared watersheds elsewhere.

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The Upper Indus Basin's (UIB) unique geographical positioning and its ecosystem contributions to the downstream basin in the form of water and energy are of critical importance. UIB is also among the most vulnerable water towers in the world vis-a-vis climate as well as a host of environmental and socio-economic changes. The paucity of ground observations and their associated unknowns make it imperative to study and highlight the grey areas for attention and action by policy planners and basin government and management at different levels in order to improve the management and the governance structures for better water resource management. As this river basin is shared between countries, enhanced co-creation of knowledge can provide greater understanding of the challenges to stakeholders so that they can make better decisions regarding the development of the region. With this in view, the UIB network, comprising four national chapters (Afghanistan, China, India and Pakistan) linked strategically at regional level, was conceived to provide better understanding of the critical issues associated with the UIB. The network strives for a resilient and empowered UIB region through science-based regional cooperation, which promotes coordination and collaboration among organizations working in the UIB to ensure improved understanding of present and future water availability, demand and hazards and to develop gender sensitive solutions for all stakeholders. The special issue is one of such efforts from the network in knowledge generation, exchange, and dissemination to contribute towards an enhanced understanding of climate change impacts in the Indus. The paper presents a time-wise evolution of the network to highlight the importance of cross boundary knowledge and the relevance of such networks. Such a science-based network can provide important information for science-backed policies for the basin countries. It also details the achievements of the network, lessons learnt from such knowledge networks, and the potential for future contributions to basin countries taking into consideration the transboundary nature of the UIB.

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The geo-referenced regional exposure assessment tool for European rivers (GREAT-ER) is designed to support river basin management or the implementation process within the EU Water Framework Directive by predicting spatially resolved exposure concentrations in whole watersheds. The usefulness of the complimentary application of targeted monitoring and GREAT-ER simulations is demonstrated with case studies for three pharmaceuticals in selected German watersheds. Comparison with monitoring data corroborates the capability of the probabilistic model approach to predict the expected range of spatial surface water concentrations. Explicit consideration of local pharmaceutical emissions from hospitals or private doctor's offices (e.g., for X-ray contrast agents) can improve predictions on the local scale without compromising regional exposure assessment. Pharmaceuticals exhibiting low concentrations hardly detectable with established analytical methods (e.g., EE2) can be evaluated with model simulations. Management scenarios allow for a priori assessment of risk reduction measures. In combination with targeted monitoring approaches, the GREAT-ER model can serve as valuable support tool for exposure and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in whole watersheds.

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Groundwater resources are of utmost importance in sustaining water related ecosystems, including humans. The long-lasting impacts from anthropogenic activities require early actions, owing to the natural time lag in groundwater formation and renewal. The European Union (EU) policy, within the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), requires Member States to identify and reverse any significant and sustained upward trend in the concentration of pollutants, defining specific protection measures to be included in the River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). In Italy, official guidelines for trend and trend reversal assessment have been published recently. Statistical methods, such as the Mann-Kendall test for trend analysis and the Sen's method for estimating concentration scenarios, should be applied at the fixed terms stated by the WFD implementation cycles to identify upward trends, while the Pettitt test is proposed for the identification of trend reversal. In this paper, we present an application of a slightly modified version of the Italian Guidelines to a groundwater body in Northern Italy featuring nitrate pollution and discuss its advantages and limitations. In addition to Pettitt test, for the trend reversal analysis, we apply the Mann-Kendall test in two sections and compare the results. We conclude that this method seems more reliable than Pettitt test to identify a reversal point in quality time series. The overall procedure can be easily applied to any groundwater body defined at risk across Europe, for the assessment of the upward trends of pollutants and their reversal, even with little chemical monitoring data. Although focused on the EU legislative framework, this procedure may be relevant for a wider context, allowing to individuate upward trend as early warning for contamination processes in an integrated water resources management context.

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Although collaborative governance has been presented as central in environmental management, it does not guarantee sustainable natural resources management. Due to methodological challenges and a lack of robust interdisciplinary data, few studies have linked collaborative processes to ecological outcomes. This paper contributes to that research effort by investigating whether the relative involvement of different interest groups in deliberations matters from an ecological perspective. To that end, this interdisciplinary paper links social and ecological indicators across two large French river basins in a dataset spanning 25 years. We find that the presence of different interest groups - agricultural, industrial and NGOs - during deliberations, is linked to different ecological outcomes. Most notably, the composition of present members does not play the same role depending on the type of pollution source studied (e.g. point and/or diffuse sources).

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Riverine nutrient loads are among the major causes of eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. This study applied the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in three catchments flowing to the Baltic Sea, namely Vantaanjoki (Finland), Fyrisån (Sweden), and Slupia (Poland), to simulate the effectiveness of nutrient control measures included in the EU's Water Framework Directive River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs). Moreover, we identified similar, coastal, middle-sized catchments to which conclusions from this study could be applicable. The first modelling scenario based on extrapolation of the existing trends affected the modelled nutrient loads by less than 5%. In the second scenario, measures included in RBMPs showed variable effectiveness, ranging from negligible for Slupia to 28% total P load reduction in Vantaanjoki. Adding spatially targeted measures to RBMPs (third scenario) would considerably improve their effectiveness in all three catchments for both total N and P, suggesting a need to adopt targeting more widely in the Baltic Sea countries.

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Surface water quality management requires foresighted decision making regarding long-term investments. It should consider multiple objectives (e.g. related to different pollutants and costs), integrate multiple sources of pollution (point and diffuse sources), and external conditions that change over time (climate, population and land-use changes). Multi-attribute value theory can support such decisions, especially the development of an assessment method. Integrated surface water quality assessment methods including micropollutants are currently lacking or in development in many countries. Important steps for the development of such an immission oriented and integrated surface water quality assessment method are discussed in this paper and exemplified for organic micropollutants. The proposed assessment method goes beyond simple pass-fail criteria for single substances. It provides a continuous assessment on a scale from zero to one based on five color-coded water quality classes and suggestions for the visualization of assessment results. It takes into account the toxicity of the micropollutants and their mixture to aquatic organisms by comparing measured concentrations to environmental quality standards (EQS). The focus of this paper is on aggregation over multiple substances and time. Advantages and disadvantages of different aggregation methods are discussed as well as their implications for practice. The consequences of different aggregation methods are illustrated with didactical examples and by an application of the proposed water quality assessment method to pesticide monitoring data from Switzerland. Recommendations are provided that account for the purpose of the assessment. Furthermore, the paper illustrates how the proposed method can facilitate dealing with uncertainty and a transparent communication of monitoring results to support water quality management decisions.

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Sustainable development supports watershed processes and functions. To aid the sustainable development of the western Balkans' transboundary river and lake basins, the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adapted the EPA's Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) following the devasting 2014 floods in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. The IWI evaluates six watershed functions based on a suite of anthropogenic stressors (e.g., impervious surfaces, reservoirs). A key feature of the IWI is its ability to accumulate the impact of upstream activities of any specific location in a river network. A novel feature of the IWI, compared with other watershed assessment tools, is its capacity to provide actionable information at the local scale. IWI scores-ranging from 0 (low integrity) to 1 (high integrity)-calculated for the 1084 catchments of the study area indicated highest integrity in the Alpine geographic region (mean = 0.55, standard deviation (SD) = 0.11) and intermediate to lowest integrity within the Mediterranean (mean = 0.49, SD = 0.12) and Continental (mean = 0.40, SD = 0.10) geographic regions. The IWI results are presented hierarchically for data analysts (stressor, functional component, Index of Catchment Integrity and IWI), ecologists (stream/catchment, watershed, basin), and managers (local, national, international). We provide real-world examples for managers, and suggestions for improving the assessment.

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Decision-making associated with the promotion of water sustainability is subjected to uncertainties arising, on the one hand, from the current capacity of understanding socio-environmental systems and their temporality, complexity and multidimensionality; and, on the other hand, from the need to represent key aspects of these systems through data and information. Such a representation is often supported by indicators, indices and systems of indicators for relevant aspects of the problem and for a scenario under analysis. In this context, the main aim of this study was to develop a novel system of indicators for water sustainability assessment in river basins. Literature review and content analysis were used to define an analytical structure for the problem from the perspective of the natural, social and built capitals of related sustainable development assessment. Each capital has been hierarchically subdivided into categories, subcategories and attributes, leading to 54 aspects for water sustainability assessment. A list of indicators was compiled from the scientific and technical literature, linked to attributes, and associated with valuation ranges. This led to the proposition of the River Basin Water Sustainability Index (RBWSI) and sub-indices associated with categories and subcategories of the model. The timeframe and territorial scale relevant for assessment were defined as five-to-ten year periods and areas under the jurisdiction of river basin management committees, respectively. The new model and index thus proposed may be useful in water sustainability diagnostic and prognostic studies, such as required to assess the effectiveness of river basin management actions aimed at promoting sustainable development.

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Ecosystems and biodiversity produce benefits to society, but many of them are hard to quantify. For example, it is unclear whether European societies gain benefits from experiencing rivers that host high native biodiversity. Without such knowledge, monetary investments into ecologically oriented river management plans are difficult to justify. The objective of this study was to reveal how the public in four European countries values ecological characteristics of domestic rivers and the outcomes of hypothetical river basin management plans designed to improve river ecosystems, particularly fish biodiversity. We conducted a choice experiment among the populations in Norway, Sweden, Germany, and France. We found similar preference structures in all countries with high marginal willingness-to-pay for improvements of abiotic river attributes (increased accessiblity of the river banks, improved bathing water quality, decreased river fragmentation). Citizens also benefited from certain fish species occurring in a river with native salmonid species being more valued than nonnatives, particularly in Norway, and from the degree of a river's native biodiversity. Welfare measures calculated for selected river basin management plans (policy scenarios) revealed societal benefits that were primarily derived from ecological river management whereas a scenario focusing on hydroelectricity production generated the lowest utility. We conclude that ecological river management may produce high nonmarket economic benefits in all study countries, particularly through the management of abiotic river attributes and the restoration of declining or extinct fish species. Our results help to inform decisions on restoration efforts by showcasing the benefits that these measures have for the public.

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This study mainly focuses on welfare impacts from improving considerably degraded river stretches of Heihe river basin and to determine the impact of spatial heterogeneity on willingness-to-pay (WTP) for integrated river basin management (IRBM). The significant WTP values for ecological attributes improvement revealed that the respondents of Heihe river basin significantly support the integrated ecological restoration program. However, socioeconomic characteristics and residential location have a significant impact on WTP values for different ecological attributes. The results demonstrate that water quality is the most preferred variable among all the river attributes in the study area. For example, in Zhangye, Gaotai, Ejinaqi, Minle, and Sunan the respondents were willing to pay 90.6, 160.44, 377.15, 65.40, and 139.21 Yuan per year, respectively, for a one-grade improvement in current water quality. Our findings also show that all the major counties of the basin concern more about water quality representing the relative importance of river water and express the maximum WTP for its improvement, while all major counties also share a low WTP for improvements in conditions of the leisure and entertainment. The differences in socioeconomic characteristics and ecological status of the respondents partially explain the disparity in utility from IRBM. In conclusion, the results based on only specific sub-basin of river basin may over or underestimate the welfare estimate.

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Data availability and the existence of exchange mechanisms are considered crucial issues for the management of water bodies shared among riparian countries. Moreover, common legislative and technical frameworks are assets that foster the management of transboundary waters in an integrated and sustainable manner. The River Basin Management Plans of the European Union's Water Framework Directive implementation process not only incorporate a cooperative framework, but also include open access internet-based databases that can enhance cooperation and shed light on water-related conflicts among countries that share transboundary waters. The proposed methodological approach in this research is applied in four transboundary river basins, where Greece is the downstream country, and the upstream countries are not all member states of the European Union. The areas of dispute were found in the 2nd Water Convention Report. For each particular case study, data and information from the respective River Basin Management Plans were used to investigate the actual situation. The results demonstrated that significant conflict situations in the past, which involved both water quality and water quantity issues, could be resolved using continuous and reliable datasets included in the management plans. The use of freely available data sources renders the findings of this work useful for the sustainable management of shared waters.

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The high cost of extensive pesticide monitoring studies, required for the protection of water resources, and the necessity of early identification of environmental threats, highlighted the need for prioritization of pesticides and sampling sites to be monitored. The aim of this study was to develop an optimum surface water monitoring network at a catchment scale including only the sites of a catchment vulnerable to pesticide pollution. The identification of sampling sites vulnerable to pesticide pollution (VPS) was based on the data of an intensive monitoring survey of 302 pesticides in 102 stationary sampling sites located on the surface water network of a river basin. In the proposed methodology the left-censored data of the analytical results derived from the above mentioned monitoring campaign were included in the statistical analyses by transforming all the raw data into categorical variables and arranging them in ordinal scales based on ecotoxicological thresholds derived from pesticide toxicity tests on aquatic non-target organisms. The categorized data were subjected to Categorical Principal Component Analysis with Optimal Scaling. For the identification of the VPS, the Squared Mahalanobis Distance criterion was applied on the extracted values (scores) of the significant principal components. With this methodology a 46% reduction in the number of the monitoring stations was achieved. This approach will be valuable in establishing more cost effective monitoring schemes in the future in other basins and in developing targeted measures to eliminate or limit the effect of critical pollution sources in surface aquatic systems. Moreover, by applying the proposed methodology, historical monitoring data can be used to initiate more efficient pesticide monitoring campaigns in the future.