Policy context
Water Policy
| Authors: | Ruta Landgrebe, Sandra Naumann |
| Editor: | Alexandros Kandalepas |
Editor's note 23Apr13: Source D141 (common sections), D241, D341.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the overarching legal framework to protect and restore clean water across Europe and ensure its long-term, sustainable use. The WFD sets out goals for the quality of European waters, and organizes water management based on the natural river basin districts. It encompasses several other directives relevant to the protection of land resources, such as the Groundwater Directive and Nitrates Directive, and is complemented by the Directive on Flood risk management and the Communication on addressing the challenge of Water Scarcity and Droughts. The WFD and related directives mandate and recommend measures and actions that can lead towards the prevention and halting of land degradation and desertification.
History and status quo
Directive 2000/60/EC "establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy", also known as the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), was adopted on 23 October 2000. The WFD is the legislation that holistically covers EU water policy. It is based on four main pillars aiming to:
- Achieve 'good status' of all EU waters, including surface and groundwater, by 2015 through coordinated action
- Set up a water-management system based on natural river basin districts, crossing regional and national boundaries
- Build a framework for integrated water management, covering all water management issues
- Actively involve interested parties and consult the pubic
Since 2000, the WFD has replaced existing policies, incorporating their provisions into one comprehensive framework covering groundwater, surface waters, coastal waters and transitional waters and sets out the application of basic compulsory measures.
The main requirement of the WFD is to establish relevant planning and management mechanisms at a River Basin District scale. This includes the designation of River Basin Authorities and the preparation of River Basin Management Plans, as well as Programmes of Measures. Other important procedural requirements include the establishment of monitoring programmes, licensing schemes for abstraction, impoundments or discharges, processes for public information, consultation and participation, and reporting to the EC. The WFD also mentions several mandatory instruments that are to be defined more precisely and implemented by Member States, such as costing / pricing, zoning of designated areas, abstraction and discharge permitting, and authorization of water quality-impacting activities.
Transposition into national legislation, identification of river basin districts and authorities, and characterization of river basins have been addressed in the last few years. The characterization of river basins included identifying the pressures, impacts and economic analysis of water bodies at risk and where measures are needed to reach good status.
By 2007, a monitoring network was established and the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) was launched. Additionally, the public consultation process started, followed by the issuance of the first implementation report. The due date for the Member States to publish the River Basin Management Plans, including the Programme of Measures, was the beginning of 2010. While some countries have finalized this, others are behind schedule.
Aims and objectives
The main goal of the WFD is to reach good ecological status of all water bodies by 2015. Despite the fact that significant progress has been made at a policy level to meet the ambitious goals of the WFD, it is becoming clear that these goals will, in many cases, not be met. The objectives of the WFD continue to be pursued by setting deadlines for making the Programme of Measures operational by 2012, conducting a third implementation report and assessing the vulnerability of EU. Ecological status is defined as the quality of the biological community, taking into account the abundance of aquatic flora and fauna. Ecological status is determined after in depth monitoring of nutrients, salinity, temperature and pollution, as well as morphological features like water flow, depths and structures of river beds.
Structure and components
Many European river basins cross administrative and territorial borders. In order to address water management in a cooperative way, the Member States, Norway and the Commission agreed on a Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) for the WFD incorporating: (1) information sharing, (2) developing guidance on technical issues, (3) information and data management, (4) application, testing and validation.
In terms of funding opportunities, the WFD does not provide any financial support. Funding opportunities are available through EU Regional Policy and Agricultural Policy. These include the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), European Social Fund (ESF), and Community initiatives such as the INTERREG, LEADER+ and EQUAL.
The cross-compliance mechanism of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), introduced in 2003, makes financial support for farmers dependent upon implementation of existing legislation in the field of environment, food safety and animal health and welfare. Compliance with water policy requirements is of particular relevance as agriculture is a major water consumer.
The WFD has set up several mechanisms including Programmes of Measures and the River Basin Management Plans that are drafted by each Member State, leaving considerable flexibility in order to adapt measures to local needs of the but also leading to differences in interpretation and implementation.
Implementation process
The implementation strategy of the WFD is a flexible and cooperative system. Various CIS working groups produce EU-wide standards and guidance covering issues such as the establishment of indicative water status classes, the planning process, pricing and economic evaluation, participation and monitoring.
Member States retain the main responsibilities for implementation, namely monitoring, reporting and allocation of River Basin Authorities. The role of industry associations, NGOs and other stakeholders is left at the discretion of each Member State.
Monitoring compliance with the provisions of the WFD is the responsibility of teh European Commission. However, it must be noted that while the WFD is flexible enough to accommodate specific characteristics of a given river basin, it also leaves space for interpretation and ambiguity concerning compliance and non-compliance. The status of implementation rests upon the institutional organization of the water sector in each Members State and is thus highly variable
With regard to Cropland, Programmes of Measures include several basic measures relating to agriculture, which farmers must implement in order to contribute to achieving the objectives of the WFD. These actions are also mandated through the cross-compliance mechanism and the CAP Health Check amendment made in 2009, which included water protection and management issue under the GAEC standards. Farm Advisory Systems have been set up, and guidance about integrating water issues in these Systems is available. With regard to grazing land, Programmes of Measures foresee the conversion of arable land to permanent pastures. Also, it seems likely that the overall decline of permanent pasture can be prevented with the current cross compliance rules on maintaining the extent of permanent pasture. However, biodiversity values are not taken into account. Forests are considered to have implications for the health of streams, rivers and lakes. However, forests are only mentioned once in the WFD, and forestry is not mentioned at all.
The WFD also incorporates the amended Groundwater Directive. The initial Groundwater Directive's (80/68/EEC) purpose was to prevent the pollution of groundwater by substances other than nitrates, plant protection products and biocides. In 2006 its scope was extended to include quality standards and take into account local or regional conditions (place-specific groundwater quality standards and thresholds, pollution trend studies, means to achieve pollution trend reversal to achieve the WFD objective by 2015, compliance, and regular monitoring and reporting). The Groundwater Directive is relevant to soil protection indirectly, as it tries to ensure good water quality, which simultaneously contributes to soil protection. At the same time, healthy and well-functioning soils are also important for groundwater quality, as soil stores and filters groundwater naturally. Similar to the WFD, the Groundwater Directive focuses on water quality, rather than quantity. Especially in Southern European countries, the effects of over-exploitation are severe and low groundwater levels drastically affect cropland.
Groundwater level and quality are critical to the maintenance of modern cropland as 24% of all abstracted water in Europe is used for agricultural irrigation. The agricultural sector often does not pay the real cost of water in relation to the consumption or infrastructure development of water use, incentivising overexploitation. Water policy implementation in grazing land is centered around water quality prevention of nitrate pollution and general cross-compliance mechanisms within the CAP. Depth to shallow groundwater in grassland is often used as an indicator of aquifer health. However impacts of land management upon water quantity are outside existing policy provisions. Provisions on the direct benefits of forests and shrublands for groundwater and potential measures for Member States are very limited.
The Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC) aims to reduce water pollution caused or induced by nitrates from agricultural sources and prevent further such pollution. It is coordinated with the WFD to meet the overall goal of good status for all waters. The Directive requires the identification of polluted or threatened water (surface or groundwater with a concentration of more than 50mg/l nitrates, or eutrophication of freshwater bodies, estuaries, coastal and marine waters). Identification leads to the designation of 'nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZ)' to hinder the drainage of nitrate pollution. National Action Programmes, assisted by the Council should be established around these NVZ, to be implemented by farmers. Finally, a code of good agricultural practice aims to help farmers implement measures to reduce pollution on a voluntary basis. The Nitrates Directive proved successful insofar as mineral nitrogen fertilizer consumption stabilized and nitrogen from animal husbandry on agricultural soil is decreasing. However, difficulties with implementation remain, such as a lack of financial resources on farms, lack of accurate record keeping and understanding from farmers highlighting the need for active involvement by stakeholders.
Cropland is particularly affected by the Nitrates Directive, as reducing agricultural fertilizer runoff into water bodies is one of its main aims. 'Vulnerable areas,' which comprise 39.6% of the EU 27 land area and many farmers are already subject to compulsory measures. Grazing lands are also affected as the Nitrates Directive stipulates that each farm or livestock unit produce less than 170 kg N/hectare annually Furthermore, the directive requires an increase in livestock manure storage capacity. In less-disturbed grassland/shrubland ecosystems, there is little nitrogen leakage into surface runoff or groundwater, and nitrogen concentrations are very low. Forest and woodland planting can reduce fertilizer and pesticide loss into water, and protects the soil from disturbances. Buffer strips, from woodland planting or other types of vegetation, are part of the measures identified by the WFD, as they can help to slow down runoff and intercept sediment and nutrients.
The Directive on Flood risk management (2007/60/EC) complements the WFD and the River Basin Management Plans (RBMP), which address floods but do not include reducing the risk of floods as a principal objective. The Floods Directive entered into force in 2007, following an increasing number of large flood events in Europe. The Directive requires Member States to assess the flood risk of all water courses and coastlines, to map the flood extent, assets and humans at risk, and to take adequate measures to reduce flood risk by coordinating with other countries in the case of a transboundary watercourse. The Directive reinforces the rights of the public to access the information and to contribute to the planning process. Flood risk management plans may also include the promotion of sustainable land use practices, improvement of water retention and controlled flooding. The storage effect of vegetation, soil, ground and wetlands has an important mitigating effect.
Floods are closely related to soil and land management in cropland, as soil degradation reduces soil capacity to absorb and retain precipitation, increasing rainwater runoff and contributing to floods. Sound management of riparian vegetation to ensure bank protection and flood control can help deliver the objectives of the WFD. The management of sediments at source by applying best agricultural practice and techniques contributes to a reduction of land erosion and the prevention of distribution of contaminated sediments. Grassland and pasture also play an important role in preventing soil erosion. Current rules under the cross compliance mechanism are insufficient to ensure the retention of pasture. The frequent conversion of shrub and forest land into grazing land can drastically affect the water storage capacity, filtration capacity and sediment load in an area. The benefits of riparian and floodplain woodland for protecting river morphology and moderating stream temperatures are known. The Directive therefore recommends to restore vegetation and forests and to develop manageable flood polders.
The issue of Water Scarcity and Droughts was first addressed at the EU level in 2003. A CIS Expert Network and a Mediterranean Working Group drafted the basis for the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on addressing the challenge of Water Scarcity and Droughts (WS&D) (COM(2007)414). The WS&D addresses water efficiency in agriculture and the urban environment, in better planning (demand management, land use planning, drought observatory, enhancing integration of WS&D in the River Basin Management Plans) and adequate implementation instruments (financing water efficiency, water pricing and allocation) The review of the Strategy for WS&D will be integrated into the "Blueprint to safeguard European waters"..
With regard to croplands in drought-prone areas, different crops require critical amounts of water at critical times of the year, requiring careful management of water resources, avoiding practices like conversion to irrigated crops, which increases water demand strongly. Deforestation often contributes to droughts, as it leads to decreased infiltration of water and consequently higher runoff following rainfall events. This results in soil erosion, gully and ravine formation, flooding risk and siltation of reservoirs. Forests help generate rainfall in drought-prone areas. No specific link to grazing land activities could be identified in the Communication.
There are still several aspects not covered by the WFD and there is space for improvement. The WFD addresses water quality rather than quantity and its provisions are often too general or insufficient to lead towards achieving the objectives of halting land degradation and desertification. It has also been noted that the WFD and its daughter Directives have a strong focus on northern Europe, whereas most problems related to this topic are in the southern countries. Guidance for implementing the water scarcity and drought policy should be developed further with more specific guidelines for the relevant regions.
The table below gives a short overview of the policy tools set out by the WFD that could, if implemented in a satisfactory manner, contribute to halting land degradation and desertification.
Table. WFD policy tools that have a potential to contribute to halting land degradation and desertification
| Cropland | Grazing land | Forest & shrubland | |
| WFD |
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| Groundwater Directive |
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| Nitrates Directive |
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| Flood Risk Management Directive |
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| Communication on addressing the challenge of Water Scarcity and Droughts (WS&D) | The Water Scarcity and Droughts Expert Network created as part of the CIS Working Group on Water Scarcity and Droughts of the WFD, has developed a guidance document on Drought Management Plans (DMP). DMP are closely linked with Water Framework Directive (WFD) criteria and objectives. The POM of the WFD and the DMP should co-ordinate measures to prevent and alleviate drought consequences and water scarcity. | ||