EU WI EECCA Working Group meeting

24-25 October 2013

Marta Moren Abat

European Commission Directorate General for the Environment

unit E.1 – International, Regional and Bilateral Relations Unit Water and Marine Resources

European Water Policy

orientations: Lessons learnt from EU water

policy and Blueprint

European Water Policy – legal context

• Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC)

– Intercalibration Decision (2008/915/EC)

– Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC)

– Priority Substances List Decision

(2455/2001/EC) and Directive proposal

– Environmental Quality Standards

Directive (2008/105/EC)

• Extending the scope:

– Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)

– Communication on W S & D (2012)

– Marine Strategy Framework Directive

(2008/56/EC)

• Urban waste water treatment

Directive (91/271/EEC)

• Nitrates Directive

(91/676/EEC)

• IPPC, Plant Protection

Products, etc

• Drinking water Directive

(98/83/EC)

• Bathing water Directive

– New (2006/7/EC)

• Repealed by the WFD, such as quality of

fish and shell fish waters, quality of

waters used for drinking water

abstraction, discharges of dangerous

substances

The Blueprint package

• Blueprint Communication COM(2012)673+ Impact Assessment SWD(2012) 381 & 382

• Report on River Basin Management Plans COM(2012)670

• Commission Staff Working Document, European Overview on River Basin Management Plans, Volumes 1 and 2 SWD(2012) 379

• Commission Staff Working Document, River Basin Management Plans, Volumes 3 to 30 (All Member States + Norway) SWD(2012) 379

• Communication on the Review of the European Water Scarcity and Drought Policy COM(2012)672 + accompanying Commission Staff Working Document SWD(2012)380

• Fitness Check

Water Framework Directive

WFD: Diversity of uses, aspirations, pressures

and impacts

Nature protection

Tourism Agriculture

Flood protection

Drinking water

Waste Water

Navigation & hydropower

What does WFD bring?

Improved governance

Working together for sustainable water management

Integrated river basin management

Transparent decision making to balance environmental protection and economic

development

Technical challenges

Comprehensive assessment of water environment and socio-economic needs

Programme of measures

Abandoning unsustainable practices and repairing damage

Improving the environment in the most cost-effective way

Prepare analysis of economics

WFD: River Basin approach

• Protecting all surface and ground water bodies, including transitional waters and coastal waters

• Covering all pressures and impacts on waters

• Water management at river basin level

WFD: Timetable for implementation

WFD Environmental objectives

• No deterioration of status for surface and groundwater

• Achievement of good status by 2015

• Surface waters:

– Progressive reduction of pollution by priority substances

– Phase-out of emissions of priority hazardous substances to water

• Groundwater:

– Prevention and limitation of input of pollutants

– Reversal of any significant, upward trend of pollutants

• Achievement of standards and objectives set for WFD protected areas in Community legislation

WFD: Good Status Means an expression of the quality of the

structure and functioning of aquatic

ecosystems including: biological,

hydromorphological and chemical

elements

• Good surface water status

– Good chemical status +

good ecological status

• Good groundwater status

– Good chemical status +

good quantitative status

Means meeting all standards for chemicals:

- quality standards set at EU level:

pesticides and nitrates

- threshold values: standards set at

national level

Heavily Modified Water Bodies Artificial Water Bodies

• Heavily Modified Water Bodies – Designation is possible if modification fulfils certain criteria (art 4.3)

– Default is restoration

– Examples: dams, flood protection embankments, ports

• Artificial Water Bodies – A water body created by man where there was none

– Examples: some channels, storage basins

• Objectives for HMWB and AWB – Good chemical status

– Good ecological potential: the best that can be done that is technically feasible, does not significantly interfere with the use and is not disproportionately costly

• Non action is not an option!

Heavily modified ! But with high ecological value

Exemptions (i)

• Art 4.4: the extension of the deadline (good status must be achieved by 2021 or 2027)

• Art 4.5: the achievement of less stringent objectives under certain conditions

• Art 4.6: the temporary deterioration of the status in case of natural causes or "force majeur“ – severe floods, prolonged droughts, accidents

• Art 4.7: new projects/modifications to the physical characteristics of a surface water body or alterations to the level of bodies of groundwater, or failure to prevent status deterioration of a body of surface water

Exemptions (ii)

• When applied, strict conditions have to be met and a justification has to be included in the RBMP

• exemptions for one water body must not permanently exclude or compromise achievement of the environmental objectives in other water bodies

• at least the same level of protection must be achieved as provided for by existing Community law (including those elements to be repealed)

• Article 4.7

• There are no significant better environmental options • All practicable mitigation measures are taken • Overriding public interest

Commission Report on WFD implementation

• Communication on Report on RBMPs assessment (15 pages, all languages)

• Commission Staff Working Document

o Main report presenting assessment and recommendations at EU level and comparative analysis

o Commission Staff Working Document

o 1 Annex per Member State presenting the assessment and recommendations per country

16

Assessment River Basin Management Plans: Some general preliminary findings

• A lot of effort put into preparation of the plans

• High uptake of the common framework and common language on water management provided by the WFD

• Integration of ecological perspective into water management

• Enhancement of international cooperation

• Public participation, stakeholder involvement

• Impressive improvement in the knowledge base

• 4 Member States yet to submit plans

• Low ambition in many of the plans (extensive use of exemptions)

• Lack of concrete measures and low ambition

• Lack of comparability in some areas (e.g. chemical status!)

• Dressing “business-as-usual” as WFD

• Little understanding on aligning water management practices and environment protection

Preliminary General Conclusions

• A lot of effort has been put into the preparation of the RBMPs

• Our knowledge about the status of EU waters and the activities that influence them is better than ever before.

• However, the assessment shows the need of a determined effort to ensure achievement of WFD objectives in 2015, 20221 and 2027 cycles.

Blueprint and EU2020

• Clean water is part of the natural capital on which health, well-being, and our economy depend

• The Blueprint contributes to EU2020 and growth and jobs by reinforcing the natural capital foundation of our society

• The Blueprint is the milestone for water on the Roadmap for a Resource Efficient Europe

Blueprint objectives: where we want to be

• Goal

• Ensure sustainability of all activities that impact on water, thereby securing the availability of good-quality water for sustainable and equitable water use

• Objectives (something better, more and new)

• Better implementation

• More integration

• Few new legal proposals to complete current framework

Delivery of Policy Options

Success of Blueprint depends on willingness and action by MS to involve stakeholders and improve implementation of existing legislation

• Common Implementation Strategy to facilitate early implementation of Blueprint proposals

• Enforcement through infringements where necessary

• Possible new legislative initiatives

Options Retained

• Guidance on water accounting, e-flows and target setting, including guidance on water trading

• Guidance on cost-recovery and payments for ecosystem services

• Peer review process for the RBMPs

• Interoperable Water Information System for Europe

• GMES mapping of river basins

• Raise consumers’ awareness on their water footprint

• Mainstreaming NWRM in CAP pillars I and II

• Guidance on NWRM at farm level

Options Retained

• Eco-design directive work plan to include water efficiency requirements for appliances

• Launch work on sustainable water infrastructure, including method to determine sustainable leakage level to be promoted in cohesion and structural funds & EIB loans

• EU regulation for water re-use

• Make rural development and cohesion funds for irrigation conditional upon metering

Thank you for your attention.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/index_en.htm