Background The Vuoksi River basin has over 10 000 separate lakes and a catchment area of 60 000 km2. Large areas within the catchment are still relatively unpolluted but effects of eutrophication and other alterations to the natural status are a matter for concern. Due to the large size of the catchment and the deterioration of sub-catchments there is an urgent need for cooperation between the area’s stakeholders. The main reason for deteriorating water quality is human activity. Loading pressure on the water originates largely from non-point sources such as agriculture, forestry and peat mining as well as from year-round housing and summer holiday housing in sparsely built areas, which frequently lack wastewater treatment facilities. The latter requires special action, different from point-source load reduction. The watercourse is regulated, which has effects of its own, especially on the littoral zone. According to the Water Framework Directive (WFD), harmonisation of water monitoring and water protection actions is required. There is a need for assessment of the ecological quality of the lake as a whole, including direct water quality assessment and biological parameters, and some means to integrate these. At the beginning of the project, no harmonized monitoring system was available for assessing the ecological status of water bodies, only numerous separate biological and water quality practices. Objectives The objective is to plan a cost-effective, broadly applicable, integrated monitoring system for the littoral areas of the Vuoksi River basin. This system is to serve as an essential tool for the management of the water quality in the river basins in general. Aspects of the littoral zone will be analysed, together with the data on the quality of the pelagic waters, enabling the assessment of the ecological status of the entire water-body. The key components of the project will be: 1) The planning of a pilot structure for a cost effective ecological monitoring system concentrating in the littoral zone; 2) Survey of the pressures on the littoral zones of lakes and the connection between these pressures and land use; 3) Evaluation of the cost-effectiveness and usefulness of the monitoring methods; 4) Development of an optimised monitoring model using certain target areas in the Vuoksi River basin; and 5) involvement and participation of local people, industries and other stakeholders in the monitoring. The project aimed to make the monitoring of lakes more efficient and to fulfil the new legal requirements in accordance with the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. Results The project has achieved the objective of the development of an integrated, cost-effective assessment and monitoring system for the Vuoksi River Basin. The system takes into account the biological parameters of the lakes and compares the role of the shore area with that of the open water. The project carried out the following tasks: 1. Gathering and analysing the existing data. 2. Designing more precise target areas for project activities 3. Examination of the drainage basins of the target lakes 4. Selection and testing of the monitoring methods 5. Compilation of a pilot monitoring and assessment scheme 6. Cooperation with local people. The project has been successful in integrating the study of both pelagic waters and littoral zones. This has generated more efficient and reliable results and has taken further implementation of the requirements of the WFD and the "Guidance on Monitoring for the WFD" and "Overall Approach to the Classification of Ecological Status and Ecological Potential". The project has been able to demonstrate several innovative monitoring, evaluation and analysis methods: * Digital colour infra-red aerial photographs as the basis for a map of aquatic vegetation; * The ground truthing data consisted of the observations made on the transect belts and additional plots selected from the vegetation and were geo-referenced using a 12-channel GPS; * The use of small fluorometer connected to a PC and GPS acted as a reference for the phytoplankton results and for the evaluation of total algal biomass, providing a quick overview of total algal growth; * The delineation of catchment areas was supported by land use maps and the set of statistics compiled according to the available forest and land use mapping, which was based on satellite images; * Underwater cameras were found useful for accurate determination of the zoning of isoetids and monitoring of submerged species alongside traditional methods; * Means for the participation of local inhabitants in the monitoring of lakes were developed. The project did not provide direct environmental benefits but served as an essential tool and methodology for monitoring water quality, as a foundation for the right economic and political decisions for the development of land use, industry, regional development and water management. Cost-efficiency was achieved through a reduction in the actual costs of sampling, analysing and reporting using a holistic approach; reaching the targets of status assessment and quality of monitoring as a complex, integrated entity. The project experienced delays in implementation of some tasks due to underestimates of actual work load. However, the delays have proved useful for ensuring the quality of project results. This also resulted in an increase of the direct personnel costs in comparison with the originally forecast costs.