Water Status Assessment in the Catalan River Basin District: Experience Gathered After 15 Years with the Water Framework Directive (WFD)

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoni Munné ◽  
Antoni Ginebreda ◽  
Narcís Prat
Keyword(s):  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Status ◽  
River Basin District ◽  
Status Assessment

scholarly journals Priorities and Preferences in Water Quality Management - a Case Study of the Alsterån River Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-173
Author(s):  
Kristina Ek ◽  
Lars Persson
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Quality Attributes ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
The European Union

AbstractSweden is a decentralised country where local managers, who are key actors in water management, often deal with relatively difficult prioritisations, tradeoffs and conflicting goals. Many of these challenges relate to the effective implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive. As an input to these challenges, the present paper elicits and analyses local and semi-local citizens’ preferences for water quality attributes related to the European Water Framework directive in a river basin located in southeast of Sweden. Based on a choice experiment tailored to the case study area, the paper analyses preferences for selected attributes based on real criteria for ecological water status in the implementation of the directive. The target population lives in the municipalities through which the river passes, or in municipalities neighbouring those. Despite this spatial proximity to the river, the analysis reveals limited knowledge and interest in matters related to the environmental quality of the river. There is no evidence that preferences differ between respondents with regard to experience or knowledge about the water basin, nor with regard to recreational habits in the area. These results offer input to local water management by providing information about preferences for explicit water quality attributes.

scholarly journals Coordination and Participation Boards under the European Water Framework Directive: Different Approaches Used in Some EU Countries

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Pellegrini ◽  
Lucia Bortolini ◽  
Edi Defrancesco
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
District Level ◽  
European Water Framework Directive ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
European Water ◽  
River Basin District ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
River Basin Planning

River basin planning under the European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE, WFD) poses two major challenges to EU countries: coordination among administrative units for large-scale river basin planning and the inclusion of interested parties in decision-making processes. To face both challenges, many Member States have established Coordination and Participation Boards at the River Basin District or river basin level. These boards can be defined as multi-agency and multi-actor groups that support the development of inclusive and coordinated river basin planning to comply with the WFD requirements. The aim of this paper is to understand the functioning and effectiveness of the coordination and participation boards in promoting participatory river basin planning in seven EU countries. We built a conceptual framework, based on spatial fit, coordination capacity and participatory governance theories, to assess the scale at which these boards are established as well as the type of coordination and participation they support. The results indicate the relevance of the sub-River Basin District level to promote participatory decision-making. However, a clear linkage between participatory processes conducted at the sub-district level and decision-making processes at River Basin District should be established. Only if this link is well established are the outcomes achieved through the coordination and participation boards included in river basin plans. Moreover, we identified a lack of knowledge on how planning and implementation activities carried out at sub-River Basin District are aggregated and coordinated for the entire District. Research could contribute to this issue, by focusing on coordination mechanisms and problems that occur at the River Basin District level.

Drainage basin management, local action plans and national policy: the perspective of the European Framework Directive

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 107-110
Author(s):  
J. Ollén
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Water Status ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Main River

The EC Water Framework Directive requires that all Member States achieve “good water status” by 2015 for both surface water and groundwater. The procedures by which Sweden intends to implement the Framework Directive are described and involve the establishment of five water districts, each with a water authority; local cooperative bodies based on the main river basin areas; cooperative associations for water conservation; introduction of a system of charges for water conservation; and assigning responsibility for supervision of contingency measures to the water authorities.

scholarly journals Management of Global Warming Effects in the European Water Framework Directive: Consideration of Social–Ecological System Features in the Elbe River Basin District

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9111
Author(s):  
Eva Sievers ◽  
Christoph Zielhofer ◽  
Frank Hüesker
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Elbe River ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
European Water ◽  
River Basin District ◽  
Elbe River Basin ◽  
The Elbe River

In this study, we examined the extent to which global warming management is currently integrated into the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), the central legal framework for water management in the EU. We focused on the Elbe River Basin District and how global warming is addressed in its water management. We used the social–ecological systems (SES) approach as our theoretical framework, representing an eminent analytical frame of biosphere-based sustainability science. In our study, we analysed core characteristics of SES in the context of global warming to evaluate the effectiveness of current water management in the Elbe River basin concerning long-term changing climate conditions. To determine to what extent each SES feature is considered in the Elbe water management, we applied a scale of 1 to 5. Our results show that the SES feature “scale and openness” is best addressed (score 4.0) by the Elbe River basin management, followed by “context dependency” (score 3.9); however, “non-linearity, uncertainty, unpredictability” (score 3.2), “self-organisation and adaptability” (score 3.1), and “dynamics” (score 3.0) have only moderate impacts. SES features can only be considered comprehensively if global warming is accounted for in an integrated way at a European level. In order to ensure effective implementation, explicit regulations and legally binding obligations are most likely required.

scholarly journals The Transboundary Water Management – Comparing Policy Translations of the Water Framework Directive in the International Basin Districts of the Oder River and the Torne River

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Ibragimow ◽  
Eerika Albrecht ◽  
Moritz Albrecht
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Implementation Processes ◽  
River Basin District ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Water Management Plans ◽  
Oder River ◽  
Governance Processes

Abstract The European Union’s Water Framework Directive introduced a new approach to the system of water management in Europe by nominating the river basin district as the basic unit in water management. While its transboundary character aims to better manage natural resources, its design and implementation carries several challenges due to its weak integration of various bordering effects related to administrative boundaries that strongly affect the directives’ implementation. Based on a comparative document based case study of two river basin districts – the International Oder River Basin District (IORBD) and the International Torne River Basin District (ITRBD) – the paper scrutinizes the effects on the implementation processes of the directive and aims to draw attention to identify the differences that derive from various socio-spatial settings during the first cycles of water management plans from 2009 to 2015. By thematically comparing biophysical characteristics, cross-border cooperation, cultural and administrative bordering processes the study displays a mismatch between the directives aims for transboundary governance and the actual governance processes which are hampered by a variety of conflicting bordering processes.

scholarly journals Unfolding the Water Framework Directive Implementation at the River Basin District Scale: An Italian Case Study on Irrigation Measures

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pellegrini ◽  
Bortolini ◽  
Defrancesco
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Coordination Mechanisms ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
River Basin District ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Despite that the European Water Framework Directive has attracted scholars’ attention worldwide, research is sparse on how its implementation is carried out for the whole River Basin District (RBD). This paper aims to fill this research gap by studying the implementation of this directive in the Italian Eastern Alps RBD. Based on 21 semi-structured interviews with both public authorities and the stakeholders engaged with implementation, along with a document analysis, we traced the overall implementation process, from planning to implementation, of measures to increase irrigation efficiency. Our interest was on how coordination mechanisms for the entire RBD were established during the main steps of the implementation process. Moreover, we looked at the effects of the Water Framework Directive at the local level, both in terms of changes in irrigation management practices and in terms of stakeholders’ engagement in decision-making processes. We found that, establishing decision-making processes based on a stronger coordination among all the authorities involved was fundamental both in terms of the production of shared decisions and of the participants’ satisfaction with the processes. Moreover, if true participation of stakeholders has to be achieved in the decision-making processes, then the RBD could not be the only scale where participation takes place. Actually, interactions among stakeholders and public authorities, in order to consider local interests in the decision-making processes, could be more effective at the sub-RBD level Ultimately, while cross-administrative coordination can be achieved for the whole RBD through specific coordination mechanisms, public participation should find more appropriate spaces at the sub-RBD level.

scholarly journals Incorporating Ecosystem Services in the Assessment of Water Framework Directive Programmes of Measures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Souliotis ◽  
Nikolaos Voulvoulis
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecological Condition ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Ecological Objectives ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe EU Water Framework Directive requires the development of management responses aimed towards improving water quality as a result of improving ecosystem health (system state). Ecosystems have potential to supply a range of services that are of fundamental importance to human well-being, health, livelihoods and survival, and their capacity to supply these services depends on the ecosystem condition (its structure and processes). According to the WFD, Programmes of Measures should be developed to improve overall water status by reducing anthropogenic catchment pressures to levels compatible with the achievement of the ecological objectives of the directive, and when designed and implemented properly should improve the ecological condition of aquatic ecosystems that the delivery of ecosystem services depends on. Monitoring and evaluation of implemented measures are crucial for assessing their effectiveness and creating the agenda for consecutive planning cycles. Considering the challenges of achieving water status improvements, and the difficulties of communicating these to the wider public, we develop a framework for the evaluation of measures cost-effectiveness that considers ecosystem services as the benefits from the reduction of pressures on water bodies. We demonstrate its application through a case study and discuss its potential to facilitate the economic analysis required by the directive, and that most European water authorities had problems with. Findings demonstrate the potential of the methodology to effectively incorporate ecosystem services in the assessment of costs and benefits of proposed actions, as well as its potential to engage stakeholders.

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