From source to sea – a report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment has published a report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. It provided the Council, the new European Parliament, the institutions of the European Union, as well as stakeholders with the latest information on the state of water, the pressures under which water resources are under, and the actions that Member States have taken in relation to the need to achieve the environmental objectives set out in the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) and the Floods Directive 2007/60/EC.

The report outlines the water challenges facing the European Union. These will form the basis for the future Water Resilience Strategy.

The entire report is available on the website of the Publications Office of the European Union.

General context

The European Union’s water resources, essential to life and the functioning of the economy, continue to be under severe pressure due to poor management, unsustainable land use, hydromorphological changes, pollution, increased water demand and urbanization. These pressures are exacerbated by climate change, increasing water risks: more frequent, prolonged water shortages and droughts on the one hand, and extreme precipitation on the other, threatening food security, public health, ecosystems, infrastructure and Europe’s economy. Sustainable management is therefore at the heart of the response to the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Moreover, it plays a key role in strengthening the EU’s resilience.

In view of the crises we have been facing recently, sustainable water management, the principles of which are enshrined in the WFD and the Floods Directive, is increasingly important.

In addition, in a resolution of September 15, 2022. The European Parliament called for an EU water strategy. A year later, on October 25, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions to the EU Blue Deal, and the European Council pledged to strengthen water resilience across the Union. The 2024-2029 policy guidelines for the next college announced the adoption of a new European Water Scarcity Resilience Strategy to strengthen Europe’s water security.

Report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive

Preparing a report on the implementation of the WFD and the Floods Directive is a legal obligation on the European Commission. It represents an important moment when awareness of the importance of water is growing among all stakeholders, both at the EU and global levels. The purpose of the published report is to provide stakeholders with the latest data on the state of water, the threats to water resources and the actions taken by member states in pursuit of the adopted goals.

Moreover, given the deadline set under the WFD for achieving good status for all EU waters (2027), this report provides an opportunity to take stock of the situation and make recommendations to member states. At the same time, given that this is the first implementation report since the adoption of the European Green Deal, the implementation of the obligations under the aforementioned directives has also been assessed in terms of achieving the EU’s goals for biodiversity, zero pollution and climate, and an increasingly clean, closed-loop economy.

Conclusions and outlook

Overall, the Water Framework Directive implementation report shows that monitoring of EU surface water bodies has improved compared to the previous cycle, as has knowledge of them. Some pressures have been found to have decreased, particularly in countries that have increased their spending on water or made significant progress in implementing relevant legislation.

For groundwater bodies, the vast majority have good quantitative and chemical status with a positive trend since the last reporting cycle.

For surface water bodies, about 39.5 percent have good ecological status, and about 26.8 percent have good chemical status. For chemicals, some positive trends are masked by historical pollution, such as mercury and other bioaccumulative and toxic pollutants, or are influenced by new pollution challenges. In the case of ecological status, there has been some improvement in some elements of biological quality. However, the EU’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters are still subject to significant pressures, and even, as the report points out, when effective action is taken, progress may not be evident in monitoring results, as nature takes a long time to recover.

A reduction in the number of water bodies with “unknown status” is being observed, but new challenges are nevertheless being identified in terms of data comparability, making it difficult to issue an objective assessment. This calls for reflection on how to improve data quality and comparability.

Projections by member states indicate that full compliance with the goals of the Water Framework Directive will not be achieved by 2027 within the framework of the action program set forth in the Third River Basin Management Plan.

As the report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive points out, the burden of effort falls primarily on member states, which need to raise the level of ambition and accelerate action.

The European Commission assures that it will work not only with member states, but also with the public and all stakeholders.

WFD recommendations

The report includes WFD recommendations that apply to all member countries, which should, among other things:

• Increase the level of ambition and accelerate action, which means:
  • Development of more comprehensive action programs and clearer prioritization of initiatives;
  • Resolving structural problems identified during the implementation of activities;
  • Strengthening governance by improving public consultation and coordination between various administrative levels and bodies involved in implementing other relevant EU legislation, particularly the Floods, Marine Strategy Framework and Nitrates Directives;
  • Ensure full compliance with the provisions of the WFD regarding periodic review of permits/inspection of all activities affecting water bodies (including abstraction, collection, discharges) and effective, dissuasive and proportionate sanction systems;
• Increase investment and provide adequate funding to effectively implement action programs to achieve good water status. This includes, in particular:
  • Developing long-term investment plans and clearly identifying the source of funding for each activity, including the effective use of EU funds channeled through the Common Agricultural Policy, the 2021-2027 Cohesion Policy and the Instrument for Reconstruction and Increasing Resilience;
  • Strengthen efforts to fully apply the principle of cost recovery for water services so that all key water users contribute adequately to the cost of water services;
  • Better and broader use of the polluter-pays principle, elimination of subsidies that cause negative environmental impacts, provision of affordable, fair and equitable pricing mechanisms for all water users in accordance with Article 9 of the WFD;
• Implement additional measures to reduce existing, persistent environmental challenges (pressures) based on gap and shortfall analyses;
• in the face of water shortages occurring throughout the EU:
  • Improve climate resilience measures in action programs and, where appropriate, develop appropriate measures or plans to strengthen resilience;
  • Compile or improve, regularly update and monitor accurate water balances for all river basins, taking into account water inflows and withdrawals, natural losses and the needs of water-dependent ecosystems; this includes increasing direct monitoring and measurement of all water uses, continuously updating water withdrawal records and controlling unauthorized and illegal sources;
  • Take effective measures to promote water reuse, water use efficiency and closed-loop, while using environmentally-based solutions for more sustainable storage of water in soils and ecosystems;
  • When planning new dams and reservoirs, carefully assess their environmental impacts, including in the context of WFD goals, and ensure that such measures are part of integrated water management and climate resilience strategies;
• Continue cross-border cooperation;
• for monitoring, evaluation, data management and reporting:
  • Ensure, in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Environment Agency, timely and more complete electronic reporting in future cycles, making better use of opportunities arising from digitization and Earth observation to reduce administrative burdens and increase accuracy;
  • improve data quality and comparability;
  • Strengthen monitoring systems to eliminate gaps in both geographic coverage and parameters analyzed to increase confidence in state assessments and reduce reliance on expert opinion;
  • Develop methodologies to enable more harmonized definitions, such as good ecological status;
• Proactively using the new policies and legal instruments agreed upon in the context of the European Green Deal to intensify implementation efforts beneficial to the WFD, with a particular focus on the benefits of the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive and the new Environmental Restoration Law, among others.

Recommendations on the flood directive

The report includes recommendations on the Floods Directive that apply to all member countries, which should, among other things:

• Make efforts to improve flood risk management planning, including improving its flood hazard and risk maps;
• provide a clear link between flood risk objectives and actions, and provide information on the methods used to prioritize actions (taking into account cost-benefit analysis where possible);
• The flood risk management plan should specify methods for monitoring progress in implementing the measures;
• Include future climate scenarios in their flood risk management plans;
• Increase efforts to implement nature-based solutions more widely;
• In addition to investments that prevent and provide protection from floods, the cost of flooding to public budgets should be considered; insurance should be considered as an option for adapting to the effects of climate change;
• Include the need to protect cultural heritage in the flood risk management plan;
• specify in flood risk management plans how coordination with the WFD will be implemented, and provide details on public consultation and stakeholder involvement.