Sustainable water use implies the simultaneous protection of water quality and quantity. Beyond their function to support human needs such as drinking water provision, transportation and recreation freshwater bodies are also habitats. Conceiving them as water users on their own with respective biological, physico-chemical and morphological requirements could help maintaining their healthy state. Healthy freshwater ecosystems are also attractive for high-value human uses. Dwindling per capita availability of water, increasing demands, human well-being and climate change lead to competition for, and pressures on freshwater ecosystems. This has been conceptualized through the modification of the drivers–pressures–state–impacts–responses framework. This distinguishes between pressures, associated with the achievement of human well-being, and stressors, which are defined as the negative effect of excessive pressures or combination thereof on aquatic ecosystems. Guidelines usually specify threshold values to classify water bodies as appropriate for certain utilitarian uses. However, only few guidelines focus on freshwater ecosystem health. Eight guidelines for monitoring of freshwater ecosystem health were analysed in the UNEP-funded project “International Water Quality Guidelines for Ecosystems”. Based on this review, general benchmark values are proposed for key physico-chemical indicators. Furthermore, adaptive pathways towards improved monitoring and protection of the health of freshwater ecosystems are recommended. In this paper, we review the main findings of the report and also review its recent uptake. Water quality guidelines for freshwater ecosystems cannot be conceived without societal consensus and vision. Different climatic, geographical and socioeconomic contexts are to be considered too. Their development is embedded in an adaptive cycle. Its multiple phases and steps indicate a long-term approach including reassessment and potential revisions.

可持续用水意味着同时保护水质和水量。除了满足人类需求（如饮用水供应、交通和娱乐）的功能外，淡水水体也是栖息地。将他们视为具有各自生物学、物理化学和形态学要求的用水户，有助于维持他们的健康状态。健康的淡水生态系统对于高价值的人类用途也很有吸引力。人均水资源供应减少、需求增加、人类福祉和气候变化导致淡水生态系统的竞争和压力。这已经通过对驱动因素-压力-状态-影响-响应框架的修改进行了概念化。这区分了与实现人类福祉相关的压力和压力源，被定义为过度压力或其组合对水生生态系统的负面影响。指南通常指定阈值，以将水体分类为适合某些实用用途。然而，只有少数指南关注淡水生态系统健康。环境署资助的“国际生态系统水质准则”项目分析了八项监测淡水生态系统健康的准则。在此回顾的基础上，提出了关键理化指标的通用基准值。此外，建议采用适应性途径来改进监测和保护淡水生态系统的健康。在本文中，我们回顾了该报告的主要发现，并回顾了它最近的使用情况。没有社会共识和远见，就无法构想淡水生态系统的水质指南。还要考虑不同的气候、地理和社会经济背景。他们的发展嵌入在一个适应循环中。它的多个阶段和步骤表明了一种长期的方法，包括重新评估和潜在的修订。