This Communication
summarises the first report on progress with implementation of the Water
Framework Directive (2000/60/EC – WFD). It also makes recommendations for the
next important milestone: the river basin management plans. These plans,
which are due by December 2009, will bring further real improvements for the
whole water system in the form of programmes of measures, which must be
operational by 2012 and deliver the environmental objectives of the Directive
by 2015.
Reports from
the Member States on their initial obligations under the Water Framework
Directive show some encouraging results, although there are major
shortcomings in some areas. There is still time to remedy the gaps before
2010, when the first river basin management plans have to be adopted.
The poor
transposition and the lack of economic analysis are the biggest gaps in WFD
implementation so far. While international cooperation needs to be enhanced
in many cases, significant improvements have been observed in some regions,
such as the Danube.
Further
progress is needed in areas such as:
1)
Recommendations to the Member States: Member
States have to complete the first river basin management plans by the end of
2009, and they have to put a water pricing policy in place in 2010. Learning
from experience with implementation to date, there is still ample time to
improve the situation and close gaps on data. Moreover, the obligation to
inform and consult the public when preparing the management plans will
require more transparency and justification on what measures are necessary
and cost-effective, and what exemptions can be justified. The Commission
therefore urges the Member States to focus especially on the following three
areas:
- Overcoming
the current shortcomings: Member States are encouraged
to: (i) fully implement other relevant EU legislation, in particular on
urban wastewater and nitrates; (ii) put in place all the economic
instruments required by the Directive (pricing, recovery of costs of
water services, environment and resource costs, and the polluter pays
principle). Full exploitation of these economic instruments will
contribute to truly sustainable water management; (iii) put in place a
comprehensive national ecological assessment and classification system
as the basis for implementing the Directive and meeting its “good
ecological status” objective. The deficiencies of the current
intercalibration exercise must be remedied as soon as possible. Only
complete, robust and reliable ecological assessment will generate faith
in the WFD and ensure its credibility; (iv) improve the methodologies
and approaches on some key issues (such as designation of heavily
modified water bodies, criteria for assessing risk or addressing
groundwater quantitative status) and enhance comparability between the
Member States, in particular in international river basins; (v)
considerably reduce the existing data gaps and shortcomings of the
analysis as part of preparation of the river basin management plans;
- Integrating
sustainable water management into other policy areas: Member States are encouraged to: (i) make sure that
infrastructure and sustainable human development projects undergo an
appropriate environmental impact assessment; (ii) ensure the allocation
of the appropriate funding. To reach this objective, it is important to
make the best use of the potential of national funds and EU financing
instruments, such as the Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion
Policy;
- Making
the best use of public participation: public
participation should be seen as an opportunity. The ongoing work on
voluntary reporting and the Water Information System for Europe will assist in informing the public in a transparent way.
2)
Commission actions: it is clear that the Member
States still have an ambitious and challenging task ahead if they are to make
WFD implementation successful. The Commission realises that it has an
important role to play. In this respect, the Commission is planning the
following actions, which are in line with the WFD and, in some cases, have a
wide-reaching aim.
- Action 1:
Renewing the partnership with the Member States: the Commission is committed to continuing the successful
cooperation under the Common Implementation Strategy. This joint work
programme together with the Member States and other countries, and with
the involvement of stakeholders and NGOs, promotes common understanding,
best practice and information exchange on some of the key issues. The
Commission is convinced that this approach has already delivered better
results than a more formalistic approach to implementation. However, if
it should become evident that it is likely to fail, the Commission will
not hesitate to use its powers under the Treaty. In addition, the
Commission will continue helping the EU-12 Member States to implement EU
water policy and being involved in international river conventions;
- Action 2:
Ensuring integration into other EU policies:considerable progress has already been made in integrating water
policy into other EU policy areas, in particular agriculture, energy,
transport, research, external relations and regional development. The
joint and open discussions between the different competent authorities
at EU and Member State level involving all relevant stakeholders and
NGOs have produced valuable results and conclusions. The Commission is
committed to continuing its leadership role in this area by exploring
further ways of strengthening the integration of water-related
considerations into other EU policies and legislation. The aim is to
make other policy areas contribute even more effectively to protecting
the water environment and achieving the objectives of the WFD, the Flood
Risk Management Directive and other Community water legislation. There
is a window of opportunity in the upcoming discussions on the future of
the Common Agriculture Policy of further integrating water policy and
agricultural policy. On cohesion policy, the Commission will continue
efforts to ensure that assistance from the Funds is consistent with
water policy. Transport (navigation) and energy (hydropower) policies
will continue to be implemented in a way that reduces negative impacts
on the aquatic environment. Moreover, implementation of the Seventh
Framework Programme for Research will need to maintain a water focus;
- Action 3:
Promoting the use of economic instruments:
the Commission will make the use of economic instruments a priority in
the context of implementation and stimulate further exchanges of
information with and between Member States on best practices, including
more use of the existing guidance documents. Moreover, the Commission is
also looking at promoting benchmarking between water operators;
- Action 4:
Addressing climate change in water management: climate change impacts, including increased flooding and
droughts, could enhance the risk of non-attainment of the objectives of
the WFD. The increased risk on extreme events is partly addressed by the
proposal for a Directive on floods. The results of an in-depth analysis
on water scarcity and droughts will be included in a Communication
planned for mid-2007. The Commission will also encourage full use to be
made of existing possibilities for including climate change into river
basin management plans, and will encourage further integration of
climate change, mitigation and adaptation strategies, into the
implementation of EU water policy;
- Action 5:
Setting up an ambitious Water Information System for Europe (WISE): the Commission and the European Environment Agency are
committed to developing WISE by 2010. WISE will serve as the focus for
wider efforts to modernise and streamline the collection and
dissemination of information for European water policy. It is an
integral part of wider initiatives such as the Shared Environmental
Information System (SEIS) and INSPIRE.
In conclusion,
this first report on the implementation of the WFD illustrates that we have
made significant steps forward 'Towards Sustainable Water Management in the
European Union'. Together with the water-related directives that are still
under negotiation, the WFD provides all the tools needed to achieve truly
sustainable water management in the EU for years to come. However, there is
still a long and challenging road ahead for Member States to implement these
tools in the best possible way. Member States have to deploy considerable
efforts to achieve this.