The results of the assessment clarify the still open problems in water protection:

• high nutrient loads of groundwater, rivers, lakes, coastal and marine waters,
• pollutions of persistent chemicals, metals, pesticides and pharmaceuticals,
• hydromorphological changes especially in rivers,
• pollution of the seas with litter and noise. 

The long time series of data for nitrate and phosphorus document the development of the nutrient load of groundwater, rivers, lakes and the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The first data for exposure to marine litter and underwater noise in the sea are considered sufficiently worrying.