SWIFT-WFD is a EU R&D project (SSPI-CT-2003-502492). It aims to support the Water Framework Directive (WFD) by the production of quality control tools for validation purposes of screening methods, an inventory of existing screening methods currently used or under development for water monitoring, the comparison of screening test (chemical and biological) methods through laboratory-based (tank experiments) and/or field interlaboratory studies based on a selection of reference aquatic ecosystems at European scale, and with classical laboratory-based analyses to validate their results and demonstrate their equivalence (in terms of statistical comparison procedure) for parameters regulated by the WFD.
In parallel, the project should consider the development of new “low-cost”, innovative, screening techniques, both for chemical as hazardaous priority substances and biological parameters, for example composition and quality of biomass, and their validation using the same approach (interlaboratory testing and comparison with laboratory-based methods). In addition, exchange of knowledge, transfer of technologies and training related to water monitoring will represent a key issue for ensuring the comparability of data produced by screening methods.