COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources

• Celex Number: 52012DC0673
• Published date: 14 November 2012

|

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources /* COM/2012/0673 final */

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources

1. Rationale for the Blueprint: The Status of EU waters is not doing well enough!

Water is essential for human life, nature and the economy. It is permanently renewed but it is also finite and cannot be made or replaced with other resources. Freshwater constitutes only about 2 % of the water on the planet and competing demands may lead to an estimated 40 % global water supply shortage by 2030[1].

The EU’s water policy has been successful in helping to protect our water resources. This Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources aims to tackle the obstacles which hamper action to safeguard Europe's water resources and is based on an extensive evaluation of the existing policy. The Blueprint is based on a wealth of information and analysis including the EEA State of Water report,[2] the Commission assessment of the Member States River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) and Review of the Policy on Water Scarcity and Droughts,[3] and the Fitness Check of EU Freshwater Policy.[4] Moreover it is accompanied by an Impact Assessment.[5] The Blueprint is based on extensive public consultations both in the framework of its development and under the Fitness Check which has involved the general public, stakeholders, Member States as well as other EU institutions and bodies.[6] The Blueprint recognises that the aquatic environments differ greatly across the EU and therefore does not propose any one size fits all solution, in line with the principle of subsidiarity. It emphasises key themes which include: improving land use, addressing water pollution, increasing water efficiency and resilience, and improving governance by those involved in managing water resources.

1.1. Policy context

EU water policy has successfully contributed to water protection over the past three decades. Europeans can safely drink tap water and swim in thousands of coastal areas, rivers and lakes across the EU. Pollution from urban, industrial and agricultural sources is regulated and this has brought about significant improvements in the quality of European waters, particularly by reducing an excess of nutrients. As a result, iconic fish species such as salmon and sturgeon have, in some places, returned to European rivers.

In 2000, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD)[7] addressed for the first time in a comprehensive manner all the challenges faced by EU waters, making it clear that water management is much more than just water distribution and treatment. It involves land-use and management that affect both water quality and quantity; it requires coordination with spatial planning by the Member States and integration into funding priorities. The WFD established the objective to achieve good status by 2015. This deadline is approaching. The EEA State of Water report and the Commission assessment of the Member States’ RBMPs developed under the WFD concur that this objective is likely to be achieved in slightly over half (53 %) of EU waters. Major additional action is therefore needed to preserve and improve EU waters.

The main causes of negative impacts on water status are interlinked. These include climate change; land use; economic activities such as energy production, industry, agriculture and tourism; urban development and demographic change. Pressure from these causes takes the form of pollutant emissions, water over-use (water stress), physical changes to water bodies and extreme events such as floods and drought, which are set to increase unless action is taken. As a result, the ecological and chemical status of EU waters is threatened, more parts of the EU are at risk of water scarcity, and the water ecosystems — on whose services our societies depend — may become more vulnerable to extreme events such as floods and droughts. It is essential to address these challenges to preserve our resource base for life, nature and the economy and protect human health.

The EU needs to focus on green growth and become more resource efficient (including water) to achieve a sustainable recovery from the current economic and environmental crisis, adapt to climate change and build resilience to disasters. Tackling these challenges holds significant potential to boost the competitiveness and growth of the European water sector, which includes 9000 active SMEs and provides 600 000 direct jobs in water utilities alone. There is also potential for green growth in other water-related sectors (water-using industries, water technology development etc.) where innovation can increase operational efficiency.

Sixty per cent of the EU’s territory lies in transboundary river basins. The hydrological cycles are so interconnected that land use in one country can affect precipitation beyond its borders. Moreover, the European market, EU common policies and Member State policies all have significant impacts on water status. Therefore, the Commission proposes this Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources. Its long-term aim is to ensure the sustainability of all activities that impact on water, thereby securing the availability of good-quality water for sustainable and equitable water use. This goal is already enshrined in the WFD in various ways. The Blueprint will help us achieve the goal by identifying obstacles and ways to overcome them.

2. ‘good water status’ and how to achieve it: something better, something more and something new

Although the Blueprint objective is not new, it is the first time that so much information has become available on water status throughout the continent, particularly thanks to the development of RBMPs under the WFD and the above-mentioned assessments. These and the views expressed by stakeholders converge in showing that the current EU legal framework on water is extensive, flexible and essentially fit to address the challenges faced by the aquatic environment. However, there is a need for better implementation and increased integration of water policy objectives into other policy areas, such as the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), the Cohesion and Structural Funds and the policies on renewable energy, transport and integrated disaster management. The reasons for the currently insufficient levels of implementation and integration are complex and have been analysed in the accompanying impact assessment. They consist of a series of water management problems related to the insufficient use of economic instruments, lack of support for specific measures, poor governance and knowledge gaps. Only in a minority of cases have gaps been identified that would require the completion of the current framework by new action of a legislative/legal nature.

Clearly, the success of the approach proposed by the Blueprint will depend on Member States’ willingness and action to involve stakeholders and follow up to the Commission’s proposals to improve implementation of existing legislation. In this respect, the WFD Common Implementation Strategy (CIS), involving all Member States and relevant stakeholders, should continue to play a positive role in WFD implementation. The Blueprint tries to build on the CIS, where possible, to create ownership and facilitate implementation of the Commission’s proposals. However, relying on the CIS does not imply that the Commission will give up its enforcement role with respect to water legislation. Depending on the progress made by the Member States to address their implementation shortcomings, infringement cases may become necessary. Legislative initiatives may need to be considered.

The following sections address the problem areas and suggest ways forward in relation to land use/ecological status, chemical status and water pollution, water efficiency, vulnerability and cross-cutting issues. But it should be kept in mind that these are all inter-connected aspects of water management and the proposed measures will contribute to multiple goals. For instance, water efficiency and vulnerability measures are expected to have positive impacts on ecological and chemical status and vice versa.

2.1. Land use and the ecological status of EU waters: problems and solutions

The EEA State of Water report and the Commission’s assessment of the RBMPs show that good ecological status is currently achieved in 43 % of the reported freshwater bodies and that the additional measures included in the plans are expected to increase this to 53 % by 2015.

While ecological status assessments still need improvement, it appears that the most widespread pressure on ecological status in the EU (19 Member States) originate from changes to water bodies[8] due, for example, to dams for hydropower and navigation or draining land for agriculture; embankments for flood protection.

There are known ways to address these pressures and they should be applied. Where existing structures built for hydropower, navigation or other purposes break river continuity and, often, fish migration, mitigation measures such as fish passes and fish lifts should be standard practice. This is now happening, mostly for new developments, as a consequence of WFD requirements (Article 4.7), but it is important to progressively retrofit existing structures in order to improve water status. When there are plans to make significant new changes to water bodies, Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA)[9] should be made in addition to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)[10] for specific projects...