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The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) |
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CONTENTS
Introduction
Timetable
Process
River Basin Districts
River Basin Characterisation Pressures
River Basin Management Plans
Monitoring
Programme of Measures
Further Information
The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) is a broad and challenging European Environmental Directive. It sets out a detailed framework for the improved protection and management of water, from source to sea, and requires all inland and coastal waters to reach 'good ecological status' by 2015. It aims to do this by establishing river basin districts within which demanding environmental objectives will be set, including ecological targets for surface waters. The Solent lies in the southeast river basin district.
The Directive has five key high level objectives to:
The Directive came into force on 22 December 2000. To date member states have had to:
Key dates for the Water Framework Directive are:
Solent Timetable
The Environment Agency has set the following provisional timetable for the southeast River Basin District which incorporates the Solent.
Each stage will have a six month consultation and the Solent Forum is to be invited to respond to each of these.
Defra has responsibility for implementing the Directive in England. However, much of the implementation work will be undertaken by the Competent Authority which in England is the Environment Agency. For the Solent the relevant office is the Agency's Hampshire and Isle of Wight office. The Environment Agency has split the process into two main phases, river basin planning and putting the plans into action. Key steps in each phase are set out below.
1. River basin planning
2. Putting the plan into action
A Common Implementation Strategy has been published by the EU to assist member states in implementing the Directive. This Strategy includes the publication of guidance and technical documents, the results from pilot river basin management schemes and an information exchange platform.
The Water Framework Directive requires the identification of river basin districts (RBD). River basin districts are made up of groups of catchments (rivers, streams, lakes and the land that drain into them). Groundwaters, estuaries (transitional waters), coastal waters and artificial waters (such as canals) are assigned to the most appropriate districts. Coastal waters are defined as being from the mean High Water Mark to one nautical mile offshore from the UK Territorial Baseline.
| The Southeast River Basin District, which incorporates the Solent, contains the River Test and Itchen catchments and the Isle of Wight. Most of the Solent has been classified as moderately exposed Mesotidal with the Eastern harbours being sheltered Mesotidal. A definitive map of the RBD is available from the local Environment Agency office. |
For each RBD the water bodies within it have been classified into types. These include entire lakes, parts of lakes, parts of rivers and streams, transitional waters, coastal waters, and groundwater. Surface water bodies are grouped into different types according to their physical and chemical characteristics. The types indicate, in very general terms, the sorts of plants and animals likely to be present in water bodies of that type in undisturbed conditions. This grouping is important in deciding the environmental objectives that are set for each water body.
The definitions of water body types within each RBD have been discussed across Europe, and agreed for the United Kingdom by the WFD UK Technical Advisory Group (WFD UKTAG). WFD UKTAG is a partnership of the environment and conservation agencies providing advice on technical aspects of the WFD. Guidance for identifying and typing waters can be found on the UKTAG website.
Article 5 of the Directive requires the following to be carried out for each RBD:
• an analysis of its characteristics;
• a review of the impact of human activity; and
• an economic analysis of water use.
The Environment Agency has undertaken the analysis of river basins' characteristics and reviewed the impacts of human activity. Defra have undertaken the economic analysis of water use. Findings of these reports can be found on the Defra website.
RIVER BASIN CHARACTERISATION PRESSURES
The Environment Agency has begun the process of characterising the pressures faced by each RBD and the likelihood of these pressures resulting in the failure of a waterbody to meet the WFD objectives. The pressures have been defined as morphological, point source, diffuse source, invasion by alien species and abstraction and flow regulation. These are set out in more detail in the table below. Areas where the Solent is at risk from failing have been highlighted in red.
| Morphological | Point Source | Diffuse Source | Alien Species (whole Solent) | Abstraction and Flow Regulation (only in transitional waters) |
| Land claim | Organic enrichment | Nutrient nitrogen (Eastern Harbours) | Catchment abstraction | |
| Shoreline reinforcement | Sanitary determinants | Pesticides | Industrial abstraction (Southampton Water) | |
| Dredging (Southampton Water) | Metals (Southampton Water) | |||
| Aggregate extraction (Eastern Solent) | ||||
| Shellfish harvesting | ||||
| Commercial fishing | ||||
| Others |
For each RBD there is a statutory requirement to produce a River Basin Management Plan (RBMP). In England the Environment Agency has responsibility for producing these Plans.
The Directive requires that RBMPs are produced for each RBD by 2009. These will
be strategic management documents developed via a planning process for the
integrated management of water. This will be a cyclical process, where RBMPs
are prepared, implemented and then reviewed every six years.
Preparation will involve a process of analysis, monitoring, objective setting
and consideration of the measures to maintain or improve water status. RBMPs
will have a number of functions, but are primarily intended:
Working Together is the first step towards a Management Plan for the South East River Basin District. The EA have worked closely with the South East River Basin District Liaison Panel, whose members endorse this document for consultation. The EA have issued Working Together to help others understand how the river basin planning process could work in the South East River Basin District and how and when they can get involved. We are inviting as many people as possible to study the proposals set out and to give their views. To view the consultation document follow this link.
Integration with Existing Plans
The Environment Agency is undertaking a convergence project to look in detail at existing and proposed Agency water planning tools and processes e.g. CAMS and Regional Water Resource Strategies and how these will interface with the Directive’s River Basin Planning process. One of the aims of the project is to make recommendations on how the various water planning processes can be converged in the future to make possible more integrated river basin planning. The Agency maintains its commitment to the published CAMS timetable pending any future decisions.
The Water Framework Directive requires the development
of new monitoring and classification systems for all surface and groundwater
bodies by December 2006. This includes estuaries and coastal waters. It will be
undertaken by the Environment Agency.
Each waterbody will be assessed for:
Three different types of monitoring are required:
Each River Basin Management Plan must contain details of
the measure required to achieve WFD objectives, this is known as the Programme
of Measures (PoM). As a minimum, the PoM must be a summary of measures and a
combination of ‘basic’ and ‘supplementary’ measures can
be used. Defra policy is that the measures must be ‘cost-effective’
and must not be ‘disproportionately expensive’.
The Environment Agency has prepared a series of briefing notes that explains how various topics will relate to the Water Framework Directive. Over the coming months, it is also hoping to make more detailed information available via it's 'What's in My Back Yard' search tool, which allows you to search via postcode for a location.
Page last updated 18 May 05