Dr. Eimear Cotter:

Every country is different in terms of their ecosystems and what is living in their waterways. An inter-calibration is done across the EU so that a high ecological assessment in Ireland is comparable to other countries such as Germany or Greece, for example. Based on that ecological assessment, each country derives the nitrates standard for rivers. In Ireland, that is done by the EPA. Comparability across the EU is part of our work under the water framework directive.