RIVPACS (River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System): An Introduction

In the early 1970s scientists and water managers recognised they needed greater understanding of the ecology of running water sites and their macroinvertebrate communities. Such information was fundamental to the development of a nationwide biological assessment programme. A four-year project was established to create a biological classification of unpolluted running water sites in Great Britain based on their macroinvertebrate fauna, and to determine whether the macroinvertebrate community at a site could be predicted from physical and chemical features.

This led to the development of RIVPACS (River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System), a new approach to biological assessment, developed by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. RIVPACS has since been adopted by other countries and has influenced the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) (European Commission, 2000).

The RIVPACS software package is now used to assess biological quality of rivers and streams in the United Kingdom. Equivalent software packages have been developed in other countries (e.g. Australia) where the generic RIVPACS type approach (also termed a reference condition approach) has been successfully applied.

In 1997 a major international conference was held at Oxford University to discuss RIVPACS and a number of other methodologies under development for assessment of freshwater bodies. The conference focussed on RIVPACS type systems but also included approaches based on multimetrics and artificial intelligence. The scientific papers and workshop discussions were published by the Freshwater Biological Association in a volume containing a detailed account of the RIVPACS approach and its application within the UK and worldwide:

Contents

• RIVPACS: An Introduction
• Developing a RIVPACS type model
• Reference condition
• Sampling and sorting
• Site classification
• Model development
• Making predictions
• Sources of error
• Biotic indices
• Model validation
• EQI values
• Uncertainty in EQI
• How RIVPACS works
• International context
• Australia
• Canada
• USA
• New Zealand
• Europe
• Bibliography
• Obtaining RIVPACS software
• Obtaining the RIVPACS Database

`Assessing the biological quality of fresh waters: RIVPACS and other techniques', edited by John F. Wright, David W. Sutcliffe and Mike T. Furse. Published by The Freshwater Biological Association, Ambleside, June 2000. ISBN 0 900386 62 2. 400 pages. Price £40 softback, £60 hardback (including p. & p.).