SWATER INFORMATION

SYSTEM FOR EUROPE

Water Notes on the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive

March 2008© European Commission (Produced by DG Environment)

Water Note 1Joining Forces for Europe's Shared Waters: Coordination in international river basin districts

The European Union is a land of shared waters. About 60% of within its territory and should coordinate these actions with the other Member States in the district. the EU's surface area lies in river basins that cross at least

one national border, and all Member States except Cyprus Joint management of Europe's international rivers is not new,

and Malta contain sections of at least one international river as a case study of the Danube shows (see page 4).

basin district (IRBD). Cooperation in the Rhine also has a long history. However, the Water Framework Directive has accelerated and Under the Water Framework Directive, each Member State is deepened this process across the EU's 40 international river

responsible for implementation in the portion of an IRBD lying basins.

The Water Framework Directive establishes a legal framework to protect and restore clean water across Europe and ensure its long-term, sustainable use. (Its official title is Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.)

The directive establishes an innovative approach for water management based on river basins, the natural geographical and hydrological units and sets specific deadlines for Member States to protect aquatic ecosystems. The directive addresses inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. It establishes several innovative principles for water management, including public participation in planning and the integration of economic approaches, including the recovery of the cost of water services.

In its Article 3, the directive calls for the creation of international districts for river basins that cover the territory of more than one Member State and for coordination of work in these districts.

Katz Castle (Germany) above the Rhine RiverPhoto: International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine - Dietmar Putscher, Cologne, Germany

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The map on page 3 shows that some international river basins cross several countries, while others barely cross borders. As an example of the first case, the Meuse (or Maas) River flows from the Vosges Mountains in Eastern France north to Belgium and then into the Netherlands. The river's catchment basin and its IRBD also include Germany and Luxembourg.

In contrast, the Seine river basin district, just east of the Meuse, has almost all of its surface area in France. Nonetheless, the Seine is an IRBD because the Oise River, one of the Seine's tributaries, has its source in Belgium and coordination across the borders is needed.

International river basins link the EU with neighbouring non-EU countries. In these cases too, the directive calls for cooperation (Article 3(5)). Some neighbours, like Norway, are implementing the Water Framework Directive in their river basins. Norway cooperates with Member States Finland and Sweden on shared basins, as does Switzerland in shared IRBDs such as the Rhine.

With the enlargements of 2004 and 2007, the EU now shares international rivers with new neighbours: Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to the East, and Turkey and the countries of the Western Balkans to the Southeast. The Danube IRBD, the European Union's largest, covers ten Member States and nine neighbouring countries.

Shared river basins

The Tagus River Estuary (Portugal)

March 2008© European Commission (Produced by DG Environment)

Under the Water Framework Directive, Member States need to identify international river basins and set up appropriate administrative structures for them (Article 3(4)). The map on the opposite page shows the international river basins identified in the EU and with neighbouring countries.

The directive notes that existing administrative structures for these international basins may be used. For example for the Rhine IRBD, six Member States together with Switzerland and Liechtenstein set up a coordinating committee for the WFD implementation under the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine, which was originally founded in 1950.

Many international basins cover only two Member States: in these basins, bilateral agreements provide the basis for cooperation. For example, the Tagus (see photograph below) and other river basins linking Spain and Portugal cover 46% of the Iberian Peninsula. The two countries signed their first cooperation treaty in 1864, and in a 1998 convention they agreed to implement international and European law in these joint basins.

Member States designate the competent authorities that are directly responsible for applying the directive in their portion of each river basin. So far, Member States have only designated national authorities as competent authorities: thus, international river basin commissions have remained coordinating structures and do not directly administer the directive.

After setting up administrative structures, the next step in implementing the directive was the environmental and economic analysis of river basins, to be completed in 2005 (Article 5). In many IRBDs, this meant bridging different national traditions in water management. For example, while some countries already used a river basin approach, others did not.

The directive covers not only inland surface waters, but also groundwater and coastal waters. Thus, IRBDs extend into coastal waters: for example, the report for the Scheldt (or Escaut) River basin assesses the waters along the 340 km of the basin district's coast in northern France, Belgium and southern Netherlands.

First step: common administrativestructures

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March 2008© European Commission (Produced by DG Environment) March 2008© European Commission (Produced by DG Environment)

Current challenge: river basin management plans

The next stage of implementation includes the development countries are working together to re-introduce the species. of river basin management plans, to be completed by 2009, The countries have already made strong progress in re-as per Article 13 of the directive. Each plan will include a naturalising spawning areas in tributary rivers, building fish “programme of measures” to meet the directive's passages around weirs and other obstacles and establishing environmental and other objectives (Article 11). In initial salmon stocks. Further common actions will be needed international river basins, preparing and implementing throughout the basin, from the Rhine's tributaries through its effective plans and programmes depends on coordination. main course and into its delta, to achieve the programme's

2020 goal: a stable population of wild Atlantic salmon in the The Salmon 2020 programme in the Rhine basin provides an Rhine. Such programmes need to be established in many example of successful work already underway. The Rhine's more IRBDs in Europe.salmon died out in the 1950s. Under the programme, Rhine

For an electronic version of this map with an explanation of assumptions and methods, please seehttp://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/facts_figures/index_en.htm

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ISBN 978-92-79-09282-4

The Danube is the EU's largest international river basin district, stretching across ten Member States and nine neighbouring countries . The Danube illustrates the great variety in Europe's waters: its IRBD includes mountain streams in the Carpathians and the Alps as well as major rivers, groundwater bodies across many different geological formations, and the Danube Delta and Black Sea coastal waters.

International cooperation for the Danube River has a long history. Already in 1856, a treaty ensured free navigation on the river. More recently, 14 countries signed the 1994 Danube River Protection Convention, for the protection and sustainable management of the river basin. This common approach was a forerunner for cooperation under the Water Framework Directive. In 2000, these countries agreed to coordinate their implementation of the Directive under the Commission created by this Convention.

Thus, from 1994 Danube countries worked together to reduce pollution in the river basin, with strong support from the EU. Enlargement in 2004 and 2007 has brought many basin countries into the EU, strengthening the Directive's implementation. Two Danube basin countries, Croatia and Macedonia are now EU candidates.

In 2005, the Danube countries prepared a common analysis of the basin under Article 5 of the Directive. They are now developing a shared river basin management plan. Due to the size and the complexity of the basin, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River and the Danube countries decided to work at different geographic scales and in particular via sub-basins of the overall Danube basin.

The largest of these sub-units, the Tisza River sub-basin, covers almost 150 000 km2 across three Member States (Romania, Slovakia and Hungary) and two neighbouring countries, Serbia and Ukraine. In 2000, the Tisza River was known for two major industrial accidents, in Baia Mare and Baia Borsa, that released toxic pollution into the river, damaging downstream ecosystems. Today, the five Tisza countries are working on a joint management plan to implement the Water Framework Directive and protect the sub-basin's waters. Their shared analysis for the river basin covers both water quality and water quantity aspects. This joint work provides a leading example of cooperation among Member States and neighbouring countries.

International cooperation for theDanube River Basin

For further information on the Water Framework Directive and on Europe's waters, see the Water Information System for Europe: water.europa.eu. A list of international commissions that coordinate the implementation of the Directive in several IRBDs can be found on the European Commission's website:

. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-

framework/links/index_en.htm

© European Commission (Produced by DG Environment)

Cooperation in several IRBDs - including the large Danube and Rhine basins - has been strong. But in the future, Member States need to go further in sharing information and establishing common methods. While Member States have worked successfully with the EU's neighbours in the Rhine and the Danube basins, in some other IRBDs greater cooperation with neighbouring countries still needs to be established.

In the coming years, Member States and their neighbours will need to extend cooperation into new areas of water management. Under the new Marine Strategy Directive, Member States should work together to ensure good environmental status for shared marine waters, following an approach similar to that of the Water Framework Directive. Further collaboration is also needed for flood management, the topic of the recent Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks. Experience gathered in implementing the Water Framework Directive will provide a foundation for these new challenges.

Work remaining

The Danube River at Budapest (Hungary)

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