Water Framework Directive (WFD)
The Water Framework Directive entered into force on 22 December 2000. It is the starting point of an integrated sustainable water protection policy in Europe, including across regional and national borders. It enables the coordinated management of water bodies in river basins. Ten river basins are relevant for Germany: Danube, Rhine, Meuse, Ems, Weser, Elbe, Eider, Oder, Schlei/Trave and Warnow/Peene.
The directive regulates the protection of surface waters, including transitional and coastal waters, and of groundwater in the river basins. The environmental objectives established under Article 4 of the WFD require EU Member States to implement the necessary measures to achieve good ecological and good chemical status for surface waters and good chemical and good quantitative status for groundwater. For artificial and heavily modified water bodies, i.e. canals and numerous federal waterways, the objective is to achieve good ecological potential and good chemical status. The directive requires Member States to reach the objectives by the end of 2015, with options for extensions and exemptions.
How is the Water Framework Directive transposed into German law?
The WFD is transposed into German law primarily through the following legal texts:
There are two European daughter directives to the WFD. They are transposed into German law primarily through the Groundwater Ordinance and the Ordinance on the Protection of Surface Waters:
The directives are continuously updated to reflect the state of scientific knowledge and practical experience.
How does the practical implementation of the provisions of the Water Framework Directive work?
Much is being done to meet the objectives guiding modern water protection policy. Comprehensive data on the status of our water bodies is collected and correlated to the diverse negative impacts on groundwater and surface waters.
Ecological status and ecological potential of water bodies are assessed according to WFD provisions on the basis of different groups of animals and plants. These include fish fauna, macrozoobenthos, water plants and algae (macrophytes, phytobenthos) and floating phytoplankton. The assessment of the water status also relies on physico-chemical parameters (such as water temperature, pH, nitrogen and phosphorus) and hydromorphological parameters (such as structure of the water body, continuity and water regime).
The chemical status of surface waters is assessed on the basis of EU Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for priority pollutants and for pollutants specific to river basins. Examples of priority pollutants are diuron, a herbicide, and mercury, a toxic heavy metal. Examples of pollutants specific to river basins are atrazine, a herbicide, and trichlorobenzene, a solvent. There are also pollutant lists and EQS for the chemical status of groundwater, for example for nitrate or for carbamazepine, a medicinal product.
When establishing the quantitative status of groundwater, different factors that impact the groundwater level are taken into account, for example water abstraction not exceeding the rate of recharge.
The status of a water body and the negative impacts it faces are used to define measures for improving the water status and achieving good status.
Under the WFD, management plans and programmes of measures have to be drawn up for each river basin. Management plans outline the information referred to above, programmes of measures define which measures are to be implemented for individual water bodies. The plans and programmes must be updated every six years. They are the basis for water protection measures in Germany and its transboundary river basins.
Implementation of the WFD is primarily the responsibility of the Länder, while federal authorities are responsible for achieving certain WFD objectives for federal waterways.
How does the joint coordination of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive work?
Water bodies are managed at the level of river basins – or river basin districts according to WFD terminology. River basins tend to exceed the boundaries of Länder and countries, requiring all parties concerned to coordinate their actions. River basins that Germany shares with other countries, such as the Rhine or the Danube river basins, are coordinated by international river basin commissions that establish joint management plans in addition to national plans.
At national level, the implementation of the WFD is coordinated across Länder boundaries by several river basin associations. One example is the Elbe river basin association, which brings together 10 Länder and the federal government. LAWA, the German Working Group on water issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government, is another body for nationwide cooperation. LAWA’s mission is to discuss common issues in water management and legislation across Länder boundaries, to work on common solutions and to initiate recommendations for implementation, in particular of the WFD.
At European level, an informal joint implementation strategy allows Member States and the European Commission to be in continuous contact and to develop a common understanding regarding WFD implementation, for example through guidelines.