**1.1 The current state of knowledge about water quality protection in the European Union**

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), adopted on 23 October 2000 and implemented since 22 December 2000, when it was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ L 327), has as its main objective the achievement of good status for all bodies of water (surface and groundwater), and for artificial

bodies, the good ecological potential was defined [1]. This requires an analysis of anthropogenic pressures and their impact, as set out in Article 5 of the WFD, which states: "*Each Member State must review the impact of human activities on the state of surface and groundwater in each district of the river basin or for a portion of a district of an international river basin situated in its territory*." WISE is the Water Information System for Europe, an information gateway for stakeholders regarding the European water issues comprising data collected by dedicated EU institutions [2].

Watershed management plans are management tools in Integrated Water Resources Management, which generally contain descriptions of water resources in a drainage basin and the associated management schemes and applications considering the economic efficiency and the social component in the use of water as important pillars [3]. River basin management plans come as a requirement of the WFD and are means of achieving the protection, improvement, and sustainable use of water resources. This includes fresh surface water (lakes, rivers, and streams), groundwater, and ecosystems such as some wetlands that depend on groundwater, estuaries, and coastal waters [4]. At the river basin level, it is important to identify the pressures and estimate the anthropogenic impact on the state of surface and groundwater, this aspect being achieved by identifying the activities carried out at the river basin level and significant pressures, followed by the impact assessment and measures [5]. Consequently, the actions envisage the improvement of the water body conditions [6].

The identification of significant pressures as well as the impact of human activities on the state of surface waters and groundwater [7] takes into account the following aspects:


Water resources management is the activity of planning, development, distribution, and optimal management of water resources, water resources management planning takes into account all competing water demands and tries to allocate water to meet all uses and requirements. Within the management of water resources, the following major categories of problems have been identified: pollution with organic substances, pollution with nutrients, pollution with priority hazardous substances, and hydromorphological pressures [8].

Pollution with organic substances is due to wastewater discharges from point and diffuse sources represented by human settlements, industrial and agricultural sources having a significant impact on aquatic ecosystems [9]. Nutrient pollution of water refers to contamination with excessive nutrient inputs, this being the main cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, stimulate the growth of algae. Sources of nutrient pollution include spills from agricultural fields and pastures, discharges from septic tanks, and emissions from combustion [10]. Pollution with hazardous substances emitted into water bodies occurs both directly and indirectly through a series of diffuse or point sources, these substances are toxic and have persistence and bioaccumulation in the aquatic environment [11].

The objective of this work was to establish the key benchmarks regarding water quality resilience under increasing anthropogenic pressures in a changing environment determined by climate change. In the first part, the sources of water pollution (point and diffuse), the hydromorphological pressures, and the main water quality parameters have been briefly described. In the second part, the dynamics of several water quality parameters recorded downstream of Argeș River, Romania, near the confluence with the Danube *Water Quality and Anthropogenic Pressures in a Changing Environment: The Arges River Basin… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101790*

River, from 2007 to 2014 were presented as an example for water quality dynamics in conjunction with the anthropogenic impact and enforced environmental regulations.
