Water as a critical resource – an overview of the Water Framework Directive

The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC is the cornerstone of European Union water policy. It defines the objectives and indicates the range of actions to achieve them. To address the specific challenges that WFD implementation poses to critical raw materials projects, the RESourceEU Action Plan proposes a targeted review of the directive.

The comment process for the impact assessment of the directive’s implementation was open until April 14, 2026. It is intended to address issues of closed-loop circulation and access to critical raw materials in the EU, while protecting the environment and human health.

General background

The European Water Resilience Strategy, adopted in June 2025, states that the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, the Floods Directive and the Natural Resources Restoration Regulation provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for the European water cycle in nature.

It also identified the need to significantly increase funding, ensure effective implementation and accelerate digitization and innovation in the water sector.

Therefore, a review of the WFD has become necessary, and the European Commission has decided to step up efforts to secure the supply of key raw materials to the EU, in order to protect the industry and supply chain from geopolitical and price shocks.

Critical raw materials

Critical raw materials are essential for competitiveness. The RESourceEU Action Plan aims to address the Union’s dependence on imports of critical raw materials. In order to address the specific challenges of critical raw materials, access to materials sourced within the EU is to be promoted, while protecting the environment and human health.

Water Framework Directive

The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC is EU law for the protection and improvement of Europe’s waters. It requires member states to ensure that all surface waters (rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters) and groundwaters achieve good quality by 2015 and, where justified, by 2027. It is implemented in member states through the development and implementation of water management plans for each river basin. These planning documents take into account multi-year analyses and assessments of the state of the aquatic environment, identify pressures from anthropogenic activities and economic processes, and propose a set of measures to achieve specific environmental goals.

The 2019 assessment of the adequacy of the WFD showed that the standards for chemical status – groundwater and surface water, respectively – are in line with the principle of subsidiarity. They leave Member States some flexibility in determining the actions leading to the achievement of the targets at a given location. Moreover, a coordinated approach at the EU level (given the course of river basin boundaries) achieves more than would be possible at the state level.

Overview of the Water Framework Directive

The mining and metal processing sectors have repeatedly reported difficulties in obtaining permits for strategic projects to ensure the supply of critical raw materials to the EU. The roadblock has been the WFD objectives. Problems arose from regulations indicating the need to prevent deterioration of water bodies, including from pollutant discharges.

Therefore, the aim of the WFD review is to remove regulatory restrictions, simplify legislation, increase circularity and access to key raw materials in the EU while protecting the environment and human health.

In order to provide evidence that the WFD’s provisions limit the EU’s strategic autonomy over critical raw materials (activities related to extraction, processing and recycling, as defined in the European Critical Raw Materials Act), the EC encouraged the following to participate in the consultation: companies, especially those in the critical raw materials value chain, companies related to water management in the broadest sense, national and regional authorities, including those licensing critical raw materials projects and those responsible for ensuring compliance with the WFD.

Next steps

The call for comments in the consultation, which ended on April 14, 2026, was the first step in the WFD revision process. The targeted revision, as envisioned, is intended to ensure further protection of the environment, human health and resilience to water excess or scarcity in line with the European Water Resilience Strategy, while supporting the EU’s strategic autonomy over critical raw materials, the development of activities related to the extraction, processing and recycling of critical raw materials, and research and innovation in the sector.

The review of the WFD should follow the interpretive guidelines that the European Commission will publish in 2026. In addition, the results of the dialogue with water utilities, farmers and the public on the implementation of the Nitrates Directive, the WFD and the Habitats and Birds Directives will be taken into account. Input from forums that have participated in the implementation of the WFD over the past 20 years, such as:

• Strategic Coordination Group (consisting of representatives of member states and all stakeholders);
• water directors;
• environmental CEOs.

The initiative will also build on the results of discussions with member states in the context of organized bilateral dialogues, which we wrote about in Water Matters in November 2025.

The European Commission will report on the preparation of the review and any proposals to amend the WFD.