Europe: Report warns of 'poor and inadequate' river basin management plans for WFD

The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive is at risk of being undermined by poor and inadequate plans for water management prepared by EU countries, a new study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and European Environmental Bureau (EEB) claims.

The analysis found that none of the draft river basin management plans (RBMPs) rates well across a range of water safety, conservation and management measures.

Sergey Moroz, Water Policy Officer at WWF, said: ‘The European Water Framework Directive, when adopted in 2000, was far from perfect but it had the makings of a world-leading vision to change the ways we manage, use and value water at a time when the world’s water future looked much more secure than it does today.’

Despite increasing water challenges exacerbated by climate change, draft plans developed so far by member states generally put off major and necessary decisions, the report says, providing few mechanisms and little funding to achieve ‘good’ status for water bodies.

EEB Water Policy Officer Pieter de Pous said: ‘These plans don’t create an impression that we are finally departing from the unsustainable practices that led us to the current water crisis. For example, it is in the interests of agriculture and industry to become less vulnerable to increasingly insecure water supplies but there is very little in the plans when it comes to reducing their water consumption.’

‘What future for EU’s water?’ expresses particular concerns about the increasingly water-scarce countries of Italy and Greece where, it says, it is unclear whether they are actually planning to finalise strategies that are even remotely comparable to what the rest of Europe is doing.

Some countries such as the Netherlands, which have lost many of their natural rivers and waters in the past, are now starting initiatives to give rivers more space for flooding and thus improving their ability to face future climate change impacts, the report found. The Netherlands has also managed to secure funding for river restoration, it adds, although the amounts are still inadequate.

Mr de Pous noted: ‘Worrying diverging trends now emerge from Eastern and Southern Europe, like in Czech Republic and Portugal, where rivers continue to be poured into concrete straightjackets for the purpose of navigation, flood defence or hydropower.’

Water pollution remains a serious issue also not sufficiently addressed in the majority of plans and large portions of Europe’s waters remain at risk of becoming unavailable or in need of expensive treatment.

Water efficiency measures were particularly poor in most draft plans, with France’s Loire Bretagne basin described as ‘a partial exception’ where a water efficiency objective is proposed for drinking water supply for rural and urban areas.