How Hercules cleans up the Augean stables: differentiated implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive

Realising the goals of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive is difficult. The differentiation of water policies according to local conditions enjoys increasing attention and may be necessary to achieve good ecological status in all European waters. This paper seeks to explore to what extent and how local water quality determines the degree of coercion, i.e. the extent to which differentiated policies are voluntary or rather imposed upon policy addressees, of spatially differentiated water policies. It does so on the basis of seven cases in five EU Member States. For highly polluted waters, spatially differentiated policies tend either to make the use of authoritative policy instruments, i.e. coercion by way of formal regulation, or to rely on the threat to introduce such regulation. For preventing the deterioration of relatively ‘clean’ waters, voluntary instruments based on information and persuasion dominate, often supported by subsidies and/or the direct input of public resources. In relation to the spatial differentiation of water policies, issues of data demand, equality and legitimacy have to be taken into account.

The Romanian Ecological Flow Method, RoEflow, Developed in Line with the EU Water Framework Directive. Concept and Case Studies

The overall purpose of the research is to develop a method to compute ecological flows in line with the EU Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC) for the whole Romanian territory, for a variety of hydrological, morphological and ecological conditions. The method has three components: a Quantity component, a Dynamic component, and a Real-time operation component. The Quantity component is a hydrological method with elements of the aquatic fauna habitat indirectly linked to biological organisms based on the current Romanian knowledge on the linkages between hydrology and aquatic biology. The Dynamic and Real-time operation components are related to the hydrological forecast. The method is practical, robust and easy to apply. The concept and the ideas use the hydrological forecast to ensure the water dynamics required by the Water Framework Directive, and to develop the quantitative component, keeping in mind that putting it into practice might have importance for a broader audience. In order to better highlight the concept, the paper shows three practical examples of the RoEflow method’s application.

Land-use and agriculture in Denmark around year 1900 and the quest for EU Water Framework Directive reference conditions in coastal waters

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to protect the ecological status of coastal waters. To establish acceptable boundaries between good and moderate ecological status, the WFD calls for reference conditions practically undisturbed by human impact. For Denmark, the nitrogen (N) concentrations present around year 1900 have been suggested to represent reference conditions. As the N load of coastal waters relates closely to runoff from land, any reduction in load links to agricultural activity. We challenge the current use of historical N balances to establish WFD reference conditions and initiate an alternative approach based on parish-level land-use statistics collected 1896/1900 and N concentrations in root zone percolates from experiments with year 1900-relevant management. This approach may be more widely applicable for landscapes with detailed historic information on agricultural activity. Using this approach, we find an average N concentration in root zone percolates that is close to that of current agriculture. Thus, considering Danish coastal waters to be practically unaffected by human activity around year 1900 remains futile as 75% of the land area was subject to agricultural activity with a substantial potential for N loss to the environment. It appears unlikely that the ecological state of coastal waters around year 1900 may serve as WFD reference condition.

The construction of reference conditions under the EU Water Framework Directive

<p>With this contribution we connect to the 3<sup>rd</sup> theme of the session, ‘hydrology as practiced within society’. Based on our recent article Linton & Krueger (2020), we demonstrate how the reference conditions and subsequent water quality targets under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) do not exist ‘out there’, waiting to be discovered, but are outcomes of complex negotiations between hydrological, ecological, technical and socio-political realities.</p><p>Treating reference conditions and targets as naturally given, as WFD implementation does at least implicitly, upholds a false sense of authority that obscures the manifold choices in the creation of the reference conditions while denying the people charged with implementing the targets or having to live with the resulting water quality an influence over those choices.</p><p>We argue that the concept of reference conditions must be abandoned in a world were water everywhere bears the traces of human presence. Instead, water quality targets should be set openly, location-specific and involving those for whom water quality is a matter of concern. We will give examples from other jurisdictions where such an approach is established practice.</p><p>References</p><p>Linton, J. and Krueger, T. (2020), The Ontological Fallacy of the Water Framework Directive: Implications and Alternatives. Water Alternatives, 13(3): 513-533.</p>

Proposed methodology for the assessment of groundwater chemical and quantitative status in the Republic of Belarus (in accordance with the principles of the EU Water Framework Directive)

<p>Since 2018, the “European Union Water Initiative Plus for Eastern Partnership (EaP) Countries (EUWI+)” has been providing significant assistance in the development of a number of pilot projects focused on the phased implementation of the main provisions of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) related to groundwater monitoring in the Republic of Belarus. The implementation began with the identification (delineation) of groundwater bodies, their characterization, assessment and improvement of groundwater monitoring networks and several groundwater investigations in order to collect the necessary data to assess groundwater risk and status. Just recently, transboundary cooperation with Ukraine, resulted in the identification of common transboundary groundwater corridors and the proposal of a monitoring network for transboundary groundwater.</p><p>The next logical step in the implementation of the WFD is the assessment of the quantitative and qualitative groundwater status, which confirms whether the environmental objectives of the WFD for groundwater have been achieved. Thus, in 2020, a draft methodology for assessing the groundwater status in the Republic of Belarus in accordance with the principles of the WFD was developed.</p><p>The elaborated draft methodology defines criteria for the assessment of groundwater quantitative and qualitative status (“good” and “poor”) and the assessment of the risk (“at risk” and “not at risk”) whether the environmental objectives of the WFD cannot be achieved. The criteria consider all relevant and related national legislation and legal provisions which are in force and the assessments follow step-by-step implementation procedures.</p><p>A preliminary testing of the proposed methodology and a list of open issues that need to be solved complete the work.</p><p>The proposed methodological approach is a first attempt and needs to be thoroughly tested with available groundwater monitoring data in the coming months, both for groundwater bodies with dense monitoring networks and groundwater bodies with limited groundwater monitoring, Finally, the approach needs to be intensively discussed at national level before being implemented into national legislation.</p>

Good Status in the Changing Climate?—Climate Proofing Law on Water Management in the EU

Climate change impacts constitute a major risk to the attainment of water policy objectives. This article analyses the resilience of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the light of the challenges that climate change brings to achieving the Directive’s objectives, no-deterioration and good status of surface waters and groundwater. The WFD includes mechanisms to adapt the water management objectives to climate change impacts, including redefining good status and application of exemptions. However, more harmonised efforts at the EU level would be needed to ensure an equal level of ambition and continuity in the water management objectives capacity to steer towards sustainable regime shifts.

Monitoring Scotland’s transitional water fish communities under the EU Water Framework Directive

The history of monitoring transitional water fish in Scotland is briefly outlined. The requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive are explained and how this applies to the monitoring of transitional water fish communities in Scotland is described. The development of a monitoring programme for Scotland is outlined, including sampling methods and strategies. Six transitional waters were selected as representative for Scotland covering three different types of transitional water. A multi-metric tool, the Transitional Water Fish Classification Index was used to assess the ecological status of the fish communities in these waters and the operation of the different metrics and the creation of appropriate reference conditions is explained. The assessment tool was applied to survey data from 2005 to 2018, although only the more recent data fully met the tool requirements. The species composition and abundances in the respective transitional waters were compared. The fully valid surveys were all classed as of Good or High status, indicating the fish communities in all the representative transitional waters appeared to be in good ecological health. The efficacy of the different metrics is considered and some issues with Metric 2, enumerating migratory species, are discussed at length. A new multi-metric tool, the Estuarine Multi-metric Fish Index, is briefly discussed and its introduction for the assessments in Scotland is recommended.