Transcript Slide 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE
WATER FRAMEWORK
DIRECTIVE (WFD)
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Main issues of the presentation
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History of European Water Policy and WFD
Purpose of WFD
Key aims of WFD
Main components of WFD
Key Actions that Member States Need to Take
Integration: a key concept underlying the
Water Framework Directive
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History of European Water Policy and WFD
 The first round of water legislations: 1975 -1980 by setting standards
for rivers and lakes used for drinking water abstraction. the following
issues were adopted:
 Fish waters
 Shellfish waters
 Bathing waters
 Groundwater
 Drinking water
 Dangerous substances
 The second round of Directives: 1990-1996:
 Nitrate Directive
 Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
 Integrated Pollution and Prevention Control (IPPC) Directive
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History of European Water Policy and WFD
 Third round: During the 1990s the need for a
holistic and consistent approach in managing
Europe’s water resources successively developed
 It also became increasingly clear that an efficient
European water policy also has to involve citizens
and non-governmental organisations in the water
management process.
 As a result, in the year 2000, the Water
Framework Directive was adopted, consolidating a
number of existing water directives into one piece
of legal framework.
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History of European Water
Policy
and
WFD
The adoption of the WFD marks a new era in EU water
policy since it introduces:
a unified system for water management.
River basins are defined as the basic unit for water
management instead of administrative or political borders
public participation is highlighted.
The WFD represents EU’s central piece of water
legislation, and provides the basis for a coherent and
uniform water policy. Already existing water legislation will
be considered “daughter directives” or be repealed.
Several new directives under the WFD are under
preparation.
WFD is a minimum directive, which means that it
stipulates minimum requirements but does not prevent
member states from introducing stricter national
regulations.
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Purpose
 The purpose of this Directive is to establish a framework
for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional
waters, coastal waters and groundwater which:
 (a) prevents further deterioration and protects and
enhances the status of aquatic ecosystems and, with
regard to their water needs, terrestrial ecosystems and
wetlands directly depending on the aquatic ecosystems;
 (b) promotes sustainable water use based on a long-term
protection of available water resources;
 (c) aims at enhanced protection and improvement of the
aquatic environment, inter alia, through specific measures
for the progressive reduction of discharges, emissions and
losses of priority substances and the cessation or phasingout of discharges, emissions and losses of the priority
hazardous substances;
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Purpose
 (d) ensures the progressive reduction of pollution
of groundwater and prevents its further pollution,
and
 (e) contributes to mitigating the effects of
floods and droughts
 and thereby contributes to:
 - the provision of the sufficient supply of good
quality surface water and groundwater as
needed for sustainable, balanced and equitable
water use,
 - a significant reduction in pollution of
groundwater,
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Purpose
 - the protection of territorial and marine waters, and
 - achieving the objectives of relevant international
agreements, including those which aim to prevent and
eliminate pollution of the marine environment, by
Community action under Article 16(3) to cease or phase
out discharges, emissions and losses of priority hazardous
substances, with the ultimate aim of achieving
concentrations in the marine environment near
background values for naturally occurring substances
and close to zero for man-made synthetic substances.
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Key aims of WFD
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expanding the scope of water protection to all waters:
surface waters and groundwater
achieving "good status" for all waters by a set deadline
(2015)
water management based on river basins
"combined approach" of emission limit values and quality
standards
getting the prices right
getting the citizen involved more closely
streamlining legislation
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Main components
The WFD contains the following main components:
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Identification of river basin districts
Protection of surface water and groundwater
Environmental objectives; good status shall be obtained
for all waters
Analysis of pressures and impacts,
Economic analysis
Monitoring programmes
River Basin Management Plan with programme of
measures
Public participation
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A single system of water management:
River basin management
 The best model for a single system of water management
is management by river basin - the natural geographical
and hydrological unit - instead of according to
administrative or political boundaries.
 While several Member States already take a river basin
approach, this is at present not the case everywhere.
 For each river basin district - some of which traverse
national frontiers - a "river basin management plan" will
need to be established and updated every six years, and
this will provide the context for the co-ordination
requirements identified above.
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Co-ordination of objectives - good status
for all waters by a set deadline
There are a number of objectives in respect of which the
quality of water is protected. The key ones at European
level are:
1. general protection of the aquatic ecology, - applied to all
waters
2. specific protection of unique and valuable habitats,wetlands
3. protection of drinking water resources, - drinking water
abstraction
4. and protection of bathing water – bathing areas
All these objectives must be integrated for each river basin.
The central requirement is that the environment be
protected to a high level in its entirety.
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Surface water
Ecological protection
 For this reason, a general requirement for ecological
protection - "good ecological status" based on the quality
of the biological community and the hydrological
characteristics, and a
 general minimum chemical standard, - "good chemical
status“ was introduced to cover all surface waters. Based
on the chemical characteristics of water.
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Surface water
 Chemical protection
 Good chemical status is defined in terms of
compliance with all the quality standards
established for chemical substances at European
level.
 The Directive also provides a mechanism for
renewing these standards and establishing new
ones by means of a prioritisation mechanism for
hazardous chemicals.
 This will ensure at least a minimum chemical
quality, particularly in relation to very toxic
substances, everywhere in the Community.
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Surface water
The other uses or objectives for which water is
protected, apply in specific areas, not
everywhere. Therefore, specific protection
zones must be designated within the river
basin, which must meet these different
objectives. Ecological and chemical
protection is requested everywhere as a
minimum, more stringent requirements will
be set for the particular zones of particular
uses.
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Groundwater
 Chemical status
 The case of groundwater is somewhat different. The
presumption in relation to groundwater should broadly be
that it should not be polluted at all. For this reason,
setting chemical quality standards may not be the best
approach, as it gives the impression of an allowed level
of pollution to which Member States can fill up.
 It comprises a prohibition on direct discharges to
groundwater, and (to cover indirect discharges) a
requirement to monitor groundwater bodies so as to
detect changes in chemical composition, and to reverse
any antropogenically induced upward pollution trend.
Taken together, these should ensure the protection of
groundwater from all contamination, according to the
principle of minimum anthropogenic impact.
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Groundwater
Quantitative status
 Quantity is also a major issue for groundwater. There is
only a certain amount of recharge into the groundwater
each year, and of this recharge, some is needed to
support connected ecosystems (whether they be surface
water bodies, or terrestrial systems such as wetlands).
 For good management, only that portion of the overall
recharge not needed by the ecology can be abstracted –
this is the sustainable resource, and the Directive limits
abstraction to that quantity.
 One of the innovations of the Directive is that it provides
a framework for integrated management of groundwater
and surface water for the first time at European level.
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Co-ordination of measures
There are a number of measures taken at Community level to tackle
particular pollution problems: Urban Waste Water Treatment
Directive, Nitrates Directive, Integrated Pollution Prevention and
Control Directive.
 The aim is to co-ordinate the application of these so as to meet the
objectives established above. This is done through this steps:
 First of all, the objectives are established for the river basin
 Then an analysis of human impact is conducted so as to determine
how far from the objective each body of water is.
 The effect on the problems of each body of water of full
implementation of all existing legislation is considered. If the existing
legislation solves the problem, the objective of the framework
Directive is attained.
 If it does not, the Member State must identify exactly why, and
design whatever additional measures are needed to satisfy all the
objectives established. These might include stricter controls on
polluting emissions from industry and agriculture, or urban waste
water sources, say. This should ensure full co-ordination.
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The combined approach
 First step, Reduce emissions at the source
 When it fails doing so at the wanted level, and the
objective cannot be reached the second step is
 Mitigate the impact/effects
 It also sets out a framework for developing further such
controls. The framework comprises the development of a
list of priority substances for action at EU level, prioritised
on the basis of risk; and then the design of the most costeffective set of measures to achieve load reduction of
those substances, taking into account both product and
process sources.
 On the effects side, it co-ordinates all the environmental
objectives in existing legislation, and provides a new
overall objective of good status for all waters, and
requires that where the measures taken on the source
side are not sufficient to achieve these objectives,
additional ones are required.
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The river basin management plan
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All the elements of this analysis must be set out in a plan for the river basin. The
plan is a detailed account of how the objectives set for the river basin (ecological
status, quantitative status, chemical status and protected area objectives) are to
be reached within the timescale required.
The plan will include all the results of the above analysis:
 the river basin’s characteristics,
 a review of the impact of human activity on the status of waters in the basin,
 estimation of the effect of existing legislation and the remaining "gap" to meeting
these objectives; and
 a set of measures designed to fill the gap.
 an economic analysis of water use within the river basin –
 a rational discussion on the cost-effectiveness of the various possible measures.
 It is essential that all interested parties are fully involved in this discussion, and
indeed in the preparation of the river basin management plan as a whole. Which
brings us to the final major element, the public participation requirements.
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Key Actions to Take under WFD
 To identify the individual river basins lying within
their national territory and assign them to
individual River Basin Districts (RBDs), and
identify competent authorities by 2003
 To characterise river basin districts in terms of
pressures, impacts and economics of water uses,
including a register of protected areas lying within
the river basin district, by 2004;
 To carry out the inter-calibration of the ecological
status classification systems by 2006
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Key Actions to Take under WFD
 To make operational the monitoring of water status
by 2006
 Based on sound monitoring and on the analysis of
the characteristics of the river basin, to identify by
2009 a programme of measures for achieving the
environmental objectives of WFD cost-effectively;
 To produce and publish River Basin Management
Plans (RBMPs) for each RBD including the
designation of heavily modified water bodies, by
2009
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Key Actions to Take under WFD
 To implement water pricing policies that
enhance the sustainability of water
resources by 2010;
 To make the measures of the programme
operational by 2012; and
 To implement the programmes of measures
and achieve the environmental objectives by
2015.
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Integration: a key concept underlying
WFD
 The central concept to the WFD is that of
integration that is seen as key to the management
of water protection within the river basin district:
 Integration of environmental objectives, combining
quality, ecological and quantity objectives for
protecting highly valuable aquatic ecosystems and
ensuring a general good status of other waters;
 Integration of all water resources, combining fresh
surface water and groundwater bodies, wetlands,
transitional and coastal water resources at the river
basin scale;
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Integration: a key concept underlying the
Water Framework Directive
 Integration of all water uses, functions, values and
impacts into a common policy framework, i.e.
investigating water for the environment, water for health
and human consumption, water for economic sectors,
transport, leisure, water as a social good, investigating
both point-source and diffuse pollution, etc.;
 Integration of disciplines, analyses and expertise,
combining hydrology, hydraulics, ecology, chemistry, soil
sciences, technology engineering and economics to
assess current pressures and impacts on water resources
and identify measures for achieving the environmental
objectives of the Directive in the most cost-effective
manner;
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Integration: a key concept underlying the
Water Framework Directive
 Integration of water legislation into a common
and coherent framework. The requirements of
some old water legislation have been
reformulated in the Water Framework Directive to
meet modern ecological thinking. After a
transitional period, these old Directives will be
repealed. Other pieces of legislation will be coordinated in river basin management plans where
they form the basis of the programmes of
measures;
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Integration: a key concept underlying
the Water Framework Directive
 Integration of a wide range of measures, including
pricing and economic and financial instruments, in a
common management approach for achieving the
environmental objectives of the Directive. Programmes of
measures are defined in River Basin Management Plans
developed for each river basin district;
 Integration of stakeholders and the civil society in
decision-making, by promoting transparency and
information to the public, and by offering a unique
opportunity for involving stakeholders in the development
of river basin management plans;
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Integration: a key concept underlying the
Water Framework Directive
 Integration of different decision-making levels
that influence water resources and water
status, be local, regional or national, for an
effective management of all waters; and
 Integration of water management from different
Member States, for river basins shared by several
countries, existing and/or future Member States of
the European Union.
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Integrating Economics into Environmental
Policy: The Novelty of the Water
Framework Directive
 Costs, discount rate, prices, taxes… The use of
economic terms in the water sector in Europe has
increased over recent years – and not only on the
part of economists. Economic issues affect all
people – as consumers who pay for water supply
and sewerage services; as taxpayers for
supporting heavy investments in the water sector;
and increasingly as human beings, eager to
protect water resources for themselves and for
future generations.
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Integrating Economics into Environmental
Policy: The Novelty of the Water
Framework Directive
 Since the 1970s, advocating the polluter-pays
principle in water policy has become the norm
rather than the exception, although the level of
application of this principle remains highly
heterogeneous.
 Furthermore, the focus was on financial aspects
rather than on economic costs. It is only in the
early 1990s (not long before the Directive’s
negotiations were initiated) that attention started
switching to the economic value of water.
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Integrating Economics into Environmental
Policy: The Novelty of the Water
Framework Directive
 This led to the production of many academic
studies and analyses, but with limited emphasis
placed on creating a link between empirical
research and policy-making.
 With the WFD, it is the first time in EU
environmental policy that economic
principles,tools and instruments are explicitly
integrated into a piece of legislation, thus opening
up an unique opportunity of making that link a
reality.
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Functions of Economic analysis in the
WFD
 To carry out an economic analysis of water uses in
each River Basin District;
 To assess trends in water supply, water demand
and investments;
 To identify areas designated for the protection of
economically significant aquatic species;
 To designate heavily modified water bodies based
on the assessment of changes to such water
bodies and of the impact (including economic
impact) on existing uses and costs of alternatives
for providing the same beneficial objective;
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Functions of Economic analysis in the
WFD
 To assess current levels of cost-recovery;
 To support the selection of a programme of measures for
each river basin district on the basis of cost-effectiveness
criteria;
 To assess the potential role of pricing in these programmes
of measures – implications on cost-recovery;
 To estimate the need for potential (time and objective)
derogation from the Directive’s environmental objectives
based on assessment of costs and benefits and costs of
alternatives for providing the same beneficial objective;
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Functions of Economic analysis in the
WFD
 To assess possible derogation resulting from new
activities and modifications, based on assessment
of costs and benefits and costs of alternatives for
providing the same beneficial objective;
 To evaluate the costs of process and control
measures to identify a cost-effective way to control
priority substances.
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