Environmental Flows Under the WFD Implementation

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the first piece of European environmental legislation addressing hydromorphological modifications and impacts on water bodies. Accordingly, in those water bodies where the hydromorphological pressures are having an impact on the ecological status, action is needed to achieve WFD objectives. Environmental flows appeared as one of the answers to this challenge. Due to their importance, Member States (MSs) have been looking to integrate ecological flows in the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) and Programmes of Measures (PoMs). More than seventeen years after the WFD adoption, this study aims to provide a systematic review of the use of environmental flows within the process of WFD implementation and their contribution to the achievement of environmental objectives. In order to achieve the goals of the study, a special analysis was done using: i) the WFD official documentation reporting the progress of WFD and environmental flows definition and implementation (such as the CIS Guidance n° 31), as well as, ii) the answers to key questions addressed to EU MSs representatives involved in the implementation of environmental flows. These enabled us to perceive how this topic has been addressed in MSs. Based on the gathered information the authors assessed whether a change in the environmental flows’ situation, between the 1st and 2nd RBMPs, has occurred by each MS, or whether progress on environmental flows assessments has been made. Furthermore, this study also highlights some MSs representatives comments related with the role of the Guidance n°31 and some relevant information related with the 3rd RBMPs. Even though an evolution on environmental flows assessments can be perceived, with an increase in MSs defining and incorporating environmental flows within the 2nd RBMPs and in the complexity of the conducted approaches, there is still a long way to go. Namely, it could be highlighted that more efforts are required for the: i) implementation of environmental flows and the monitoring of its effects in the water bodies status, ii) development of a verifiable link between environmental flows and biological indicators.     

Implementing the EU Water Framework Directive: Experiences of Participatory Planning in the Ribble Basin,North West England

Abstract

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is potentially the most significant piece of water management legislation to be developed by the European Union (EU) in the last forty years. Whilst water legislation is already regarded by many people as the ‘gold plating’ of EU environmental policy, many of the previous regulations and policies have focussed on specific point and non-point source water quality problems and have stipulated stringent standards to be achieved within specified time limits. In sharp contrast, the WFD aims to establish a planning and management framework for sustainable use of water and the ecological restoration of entire river systems, many of which do not fit neatly within the political or administrative boundaries of the Member States. Public participation in planning and management decisions is a key aspect of the WFD. This paper describes the specific requirements of the WFD for public participation and examines their implementation in the Ribble basin in North West England. The Ribble is part of a EU river basin network designed to test the WFD implementation guidelines issued by the European Commission. Particular challenges associated with engaging stakeholders in WFD implementation are highlighted and recommendations for future practice are offered.     

Easier Said Than Done? The Establishment of Baseline Groundwater Conditions for the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Spain

The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires EU countries to achieve good status of all their waters by 2015. This should be achieved through the implementation of river basin management plans (RBMPs), which in turn are based on water resources baseline data. While it is too soon to assess the WFD effectiveness, the planning process has contributed to identify possible pitfalls of the WFD design and has provided an opportunity to enhance the knowledge of European water resources. Groundwater plays a strategic role in Spain’s economy and also in the maintenance of its aquatic ecosystems, making that country an excellent testing ground for getting an insight into the definition of baseline groundwater under the WFD mandate. This paper presents the results of compiling the information produced for the RBMPs to attain an overall picture at a national scale. In doing so, it examines some of the methodological and technical choices involved in the definition of a baseline for groundwater, assessing their practical consequences on groundwater management. This paper argues that having baseline figures for the RBMPs required compromises or shortcuts to be taken. Undoubtedly, the process leading to the first WFD Plans has been an extremely enriching learning process, but it leaves questions unanswered. The periodic (6 year) RBMP revision should become an opportunity to revisit and better tune the baseline conditions established during this first planning cycle.     

Potential Significance of the EU Water Framework Directive to China

The European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD) is a unique piece of legislation, which may be of great significance to on-going reforms of the water sector in China. First and foremost it unites 27 European member states behind a common goal, which is “to achieve good chemical and ecological status” of all water bodies across the EU. Other significant characteristics of the EU WFD are that (1) it sets a clear timeframe with a number of time-bound actions for member states to achieve the goal, but leaves it to member states to achieve this goal in a decentralised process, which makes allowance for the different socio-economic conditions, (2) it defines the river basin as the management unit for water thus departing with the traditional fragmented management by administrative units and it appoints a single competent authority for water management within each river basin, thus facilitating resolution of sector conflicts, (3) it requires a financial and economic analysis of the costs of implementing the EU WFD to enable decision makers to assess whether the required improvements are affordable to government and to the population within the river basin, and (4) it requires a structured process for information and consultation with stakeholders and the public throughout the planning and implementation process.     

A SDSS-based Ecological-economic Modelling Approach for Integrated River Basin Management on Different Scale Levels – The Project FLUMAGIS

Spatial and planning support for the implementation of the European water framework directive (WFD) requires interdisciplinary approaches for assessment, deficit analysis, and scenario investigation. To support the implementation of the WFD, the paper presents the innovative spatial decision support system (SDSS) approach from the FLUMAGIS project which is based on the integration of methods for ecological and socio-economic assessment, scale-specific modelling, knowledge processing and techniques for visualization. The project has developed an interactive tool for the assessment and (three-dimensional) visualization of the hydrological and ecological conditions in river basins and economic aspects of river basin management measures. The tool is designed to increase awareness of catchment scale hydrological and ecological issues. The paper presents the structure of the FLUMAGIS prototype and provides examples of scale-specific recommendations for management measures to improve water quality and hydrologic conditions in the Upper Ems river basin (Northwest Germany).     

Participatory dam systems modelling: a case study of the transboundary Guadiana River in the Iberian Peninsula.

Modelling tools have been widely used to investigate best management practices. But in contrast to the plethora of modelling studies, the practical implementation of outcomes is comparatively small. There is an urgent need to implement results and to show the practical validation of the concept developed, especially against the context of water stress mitigation. The participative development of modelling studies as a joint effort of stakeholders and modellers is seen as a key to achieve a wider identification, acceptance, trust and applicability of results. Participatory planning in the water sector is also increasingly requested in water management, where tasks have been for clarified decades through different institutional arrangements and national laws. Stakeholder involvement in water resources management have been limited to what was long time seen as participation, merely information on action to be taken. In the last decade the need for participation has been reflected in different ways. In Europe, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) under Art. 14, requires all the European countries to involve stakeholders in decision making processes on water resource management. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss the research framework and possible results of investigating dam modelling through participatory systems modelling. We introduce a structured approach to use participatory modelling (PM) for stimulating the integration of modelling and decision making, also as a way of implementation of some articles of the WFD. The results and the framing of this paper are part of the AQUASTRESS Project. The conceptual modelling has been developed by a multidisciplinary research team, local stakeholders and local experts. Some results are discussed and recommendations made.     

Lake management in Italy: the implications of the Water Framework Directive

This paper constitutes the first consideration of the implications of the lake management in Italy arising from the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), in comparison to the provisions of existing national legislation. As a matter of fact, the Italian decrees anticipated the principles of the WFD and have substantially modified the legislation in the field of water in Italy. Important changes were introduced, both in the monitoring systems and in the classification methods for surface waters. The environmental quality status will be determined not only by monitoring the aqueous matrix, but also the sediment and the biota. The new WFD is the major piece of European Union (EU) legislation with environment at its core; it will guide the efforts for attaining a sustainable aquatic environment in the years to come. In the WFD one can see elements from all the different forces that guided the reform of EU water policy: environmental protection, deregulation and subsidiarity. Moreover, elements of the economic instruments approach (introduction of the cost recovery principle), quantitative concerns (setting of minimum flow objectives for rivers and abstraction limits for ground waters) and the quest for integration (river basin management with representation of all stakeholders) are all reflected in the WFD. The paper summarizes the present condition of the most important lakes in the Italian lake district and also highlights the case of Lake Varese, representing a unique case of lake management in Italy. Preliminary results show that there are very few examples dealing with the elements thought appropriate to lake water assessment as required by the WFD. The application of the objectives of the type specified is a largely unknown issue.     

EU Water Framework Directive versus Real Needs of Groundwater Management

Considerable financial, human and administrative reserves of the European Community are currently concentrated on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). This implementation is hoped to positively change the approach to groundwater management in many countries; however, it probably does not have any significant impact on the issue of groundwater management optimization at the operational level. Taking into account the WFD requirements concerning the optimization of groundwater management, a methodology of groundwater resources reporting and balancing in catchment systems is proposed here. The entire discussion presented in this paper focuses on quantitative aspects of groundwater management.     

Public Participation in European Water Management: from Theory to Practice

Public and stakeholder participation in water management is a crucial element in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Theoretically, the WFD identifies several advantages of public participation, such as the better use of knowledge and experiences from different stakeholders, increases in public acceptance and reduced litigation, delays, and inefficiencies in implementation. However, few studies have gone as deep, in practical terms, as the existing difficulty to introduce public participation in water management. The aim of this study was to cover this issue. It aims to conduct a literature review on public participation looking for successful social innovation experiences by the EU member states and also for the main limitations and difficulties of implementation detailing the study of the Spanish case.     

Assessment of Environmental Water Cost Through Physical Hydronomics

The Georgescu-Roegen’s statements about the connexion between the Economy and the Thermodynamics, together with the Eco-integrator approach introduced by Naredo and its relation with the water cost definitions given in the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), are the outline backgrounds of the work presented in this paper. Assuming that the physical laws are called to be the objective and universal tools to assess water costs, Physical Hydronomics (PH) has been developed as the accounting tool for the WFD application, regarding its physico-chemical objectives. PH is defined as the specific application of the Thermoeconomics to physically characterize the degradation and correction of water bodies. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, through the exergy loss calculation, is the basic working tool in this study. The final objective of PH is to use those calculated physical costs of water as a guide to allocate the environmental and resource costs introduced by the WFD. In this paper, the general framework and the basic accounting principles of PH are explained. First, from the quantity and quality measurements in the river (they give the exergy value to water bodies), the exergy profiles of the river at different statuses (those defined by the WFD) are obtained. Then, the environmental cost of water is obtained (in energy units) as the exergy needed to cover the gap between the current state of the river and the objective state defined by the applicable legislation to fulfil the European requirements. To do it, thermodynamic efficiency of water treatment technologies was introduced in the analysis. Then, the physical cost are translated into monetary units. To illustrate the application of the PH’s methodology, the example of the Spanish Muga Basin, sited in the Inland Basins of Catalonia, is summarized at the end of this paper. The results show that similar results to conventional Measurements Plans to fulfil the WFD objectives are obtained. However, PH presents an important advantage: costs could be allocated according to the degradation (exergy costs) provoked by the different water users in the water bodies.     

Water Quantity and Quality Models Applied to the Jucar River Basin,Spain

Traditionally, water quality modelling has focused on modelling individual water bodies. However, water quality management problems must be analyzed at the basin scale. European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires introducing physical, chemical and biological aspects into the management of water resources systems. Water quality modelling at a basin scale presents the advantage of incorporating in a dynamic way the relationships between the different elements and water bodies. Currently, there are few tools to deal with water modelling of water quality and management at the basin scale. This paper presents the development of a water quantity model and a water quality model for a very complex water resources system: the Júcar River Basin (Spain). The basin is characterized by a high degree of use of the water and by many water problems related to point and diffuse pollution, on top of a complex water quantity management of the basin. To deal with this problem, SIMGES (water allocation) and GESCAL (water quality) basin scale models have been used. Both are part of the Decision Support System AQUATOOL, one of the main instruments used in Spain in order to analyze water quantity and quality aspects of water resources systems for the compliance with WFD, as shown for the case of study.     

Bridging parallel discourses of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): institutional and political challenges in developing and developed countries

This paper provides a comparative review of the literature on the institutional challenges and politics of IWRM, in relation to the EU's Water Framework Directive (WFD). It reveals two parallel debates with little interaction. The extent to which IWRM is actually addressed in the WFD literature is questioned, as is the assumption that developing countries can learn from WFD experiences. Finally, the mutual benefits of connecting these parallel discussions are demonstrated, especially in terms of encouraging greater sensitivity to the contingencies and complexities of water management.     

Use of Models to Support the Monitoring Requirements in the Water Framework Directive

Implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) poses many new challenges to European water managers. Monitoring programmes play a key role to assess the status and identify possible trends in the environmental conditions of river basins; to gain new knowledge on water processes and to assess to which extent implemented measures actually have the expected effects in terms of improving the environmental status. Despite a general acknowledgement in the scientific community on the benefits of using monitoring and modelling jointly, it has not been the common practise in the European monitoring programmes so far. Several obstacles may be identified which limits the joint use of monitoring and modelling, such as lack of the required skill, lack of time, lack of confidence in models but also a lack of awareness on how models can be used in practise. In this paper we provide examples on how modelling can support the monitoring programmes to meet the objectives of the monitoring programmes in the WFD more efficiently. The extent to which the monitoring requirements in the WFD can be expected to supply sufficient data for modelling purposes is further addressed. This question is, however, not well posed, as the data requirement for modelling is highly dependent on the required accuracy of the model results.     

Towards good ecological status of surface waters in Europe--interpretation and harmonisation of the concept.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is a new legislative framework to manage, use, protect, and restore surface water and groundwater resources and coastal waters in the European Union (EU). The aim is to ensure sustainable water management and to reach good water quality by 2015. The assessment of the ecological status and setting of the practical management goals require several steps. The process has started with the characterisation of the river basins including identification of surface water bodies and types, and identification of significant anthropogenic pressures and impacts. The water bodies will be classified in five quality classes (high, good, moderate, poor, bad) based on the Ecological Quality Ratio, which is a ratio between reference conditions and measured status of the biological quality elements. The normative criteria for high, good and moderate ecological status described in the WFD need to be made operational because those will be used to set the practical quality targets for surface water management. National ecological assessment systems and classifications will be harmonised through the WFD intercalibration exercise in order to ensure an equal level of ambition in achieving good surface waters status all over Europe.     

Impacts of Combined Technical and Economic Measures on Water Saving in Agriculture under Water Availability Uncertainty

In Emilia Romagna region (northern Italy), the Water Protection Plan (WPP) — a tool designed to reach the objectives of the Water Framework Directive — established different measures to achieve a good quantitative status of water bodies. The objective of this study is to evaluate the combined economic, agronomic and environmental impacts of four measures of the WPP on the “Renana” reclamation and irrigation scheme, and to quantify the water conservation in agriculture under the uncertainty of water availability. To this purpose, a mathematical stochastic model able to represent uncertainty in water availability was designed and implemented. Some data were collected from farms, and local sources were used as well to test the model. Each analyzed measure was simulated in a single scenario, and subsequently combined with other measures. The performed simulations are the following: application of volumetric water pricing (Scenario WFD1), awarding incentives for farmers to improve on-farm irrigation efficiency (Scenario WFD2a), combination of WFD1 and WFD2a (Scenario WFD2b), reduction of water abstraction in case of water shortage (Scenario WFD3a), combination of WFD1 and WFD3a (Scenario WFD3b), increasing distribution efficiency in the channel system (Scenario WFD4a) and combination of WFD1 and WFD4a (Scenario WFD4b). Results have shown that scenarios WFD2a and WFD4a generate a higher income for farmers and produce a positive ecological impact (water use and soil cover) but tend to increase total water use. Scenarios WFD1 and WFD3a have the opposite effects since they reduce farmers’ income but decrease water use as well. Only WFD1 could be favorable for the Board governing the scheme (RIB) in terms of economic returns. Finally, results have shown that combined scenarios WFD2b and WFD4b, respectively, could modify the trade-off between economic and environmental objectives and could be more effective since they significantly reduce water consumption and minimize losses in farmers’ income.     

The Participatory Regime of Water Governance in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Transparency and public participation are important ingredients to achieve effective water governance. Since the Rio Conference, diverse international instruments advocate access to information and public participation in river basin management. At the European Union level, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes specific obligations for member states to include the public in the planning and management of river basins processes. In addition, the WFD Guideline on Public Participation includes three forms of public participation: active involvement, consultation, and provision of information. At the present moment, Spain has a legal and institutional framework that allows a very limited participatory process: only water users holding an economic stake can participate in the management of Spanish river basins. Concerning transparency, the law establishes the right to accede to information but this right has two different levels: for the general public and for water users. In the Iberian shared river basins regulated by the 1998 Luso-Spanish Convention, mechanisms allowing public participation in the terms of the WFD are not in place yet. It is necessary to reform the legal and institutional framework to facilitate real participation and to achieve effective water governance.     

Definition of Wetland Typology for Hydro-morphological Elements Within the WFD. A Case Study from Southern Spain

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) constitutes a new view of water resources management and provides a challenge in the development of new and accurate methodologies for the classification of water bodies. It is necessary to improve and develop approaches based upon scientific knowledge in order to achieve requirements of comparability throughout European waters. This contribution focuses on the development of a classification typology for a series of wetlands in southern Spain, based on hydromorphological elements. Spanish wetlands and playa-lakes are usually small (<50 ha) and temporary and, for that reason, only indirectly addressed in the WFD with respect to the status of ground water dependent ecosystems. The WFD does not provide any guidance on how to react to significant pressures and impacts on such ecosystems. In order to manage, protect and, if necessary, restore this type of water bodies, it is important to classify them according to the main factors involved in their hydrological functioning. The water balance of the playa-lakes has proved to be a valuable tool to determine the hydrological regime in a semi-arid climate. Surface-groundwater relationships are key elements in determining the water balance, but there are other elements that could indicate or corroborate the hydrological functioning of a playa-lake, such as hydro-chemical markers or morphometric indexes. The present work could constitute the basis for a discussion document for other regions and countries throughout Europe and elsewhere.     

European Union policy for improving drought preparedness and mitigation

The European Water Framework Directive 2000/60 (WFD), does not appear fully adequate to address drought risk. A Group on Drought and Water Scarcity has developed some proposals to improve the strategy for coping with drought and water scarcity issues. The main proposal consists in supplementing the River Basin Management indicated by the WFD with a specific Drought Management (sub)Plan aimed at minimizing the negative drought impacts on the economy, society and the environment. Also a list of indicators to identify prolonged droughts which permit a temporary suspension of the requirements of good ecological status in water bodies has been proposed. Some specific recommendations that the EU should issue to national governments, are discussed. Several criteria are suggested to achieve an effective drought management strategy.     

Evaluation of river basin restoration options by the application of the Water Framework Directive Explorer in the Zwalm River basin (Flanders,Belgium)

Water managers and researchers strive towards the same objective: the improvement of the quality status of water bodies. However, there is still a gap between the results of academic studies on water systems and the information currently used in water management. The Water Framework Directive (WFD)‐Explorer, a modular toolbox which supports integrated water management in a river basin, attempts to bridge this gap. The toolbox analyses the impact of different restoration measures on river ecology based on expert rules embedded in this simulation environment. The strengths and weaknesses of the toolbox have been tested on the Zwalm River basin in Flanders, Belgium. The ecological status of streams in the basin spans the whole range of nearly pristine headwaters to severely impacted river stretches further downstream. Considering the key bottlenecks in the Zwalm basin and the user‐driven ecological status objectives, several water quality and physical habitat restoration options have been proposed to meet the European Water Framework Directive goals. The positive impact of restoration measures on the ecological quality ratio (EQR) for macroinvertebrates appeared to be the highest for measures affecting the nutrient inflows and thus chemical water body characteristics. However, the spatial scale on which the WFD‐Explorer modelled the impact of physical habitat restoration may have been too coarse to generate reliable results concerning such restoration measures. Hence, the combination of the WFD‐Explorer results with those of more detailed studies on physical habitat restoration impacts might be a promising approach to reliably support decision‐making implementation of the WFD. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.