Water bottom quality

Contamination of surface water is not limited to the water column itself. After all, a number of substances tend to bind to the floating dust. If this suspended dust settles, it will form the water bottom or sediment layer along with the attached pollutants. Contamination of water soils is often the result of historical pollution with heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs... The quality of the Flemish water soils has been followed up with the triad method for a long time. This method integrates the results of chemical, biological and ecotoxicological analyses and allows water soils to be classified into quality classes, ranging from uncontaminated to highly contaminated.