Report on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)

Summary:

Report presented on 26 February 2019 by the European Commission on the state of implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive based on the Commission's assessment of the second River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) and first Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) prepared and reported by Member States for the period 2015-2021.

Further information:

Water is indispensable for life and thus for our society and economy. Sustainable water management will play an important role towards allowing mankind to adapt to its altered environment, and help to avoid the increase in global temperature beyond 1.5° Celsius. More than ever, the management of this vital resource requires a truly integrated approach, taking account of the environmental, social, economic and health dimensions.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) introduced in 2000 ensures the full integration of the economic and ecological perspectives in water quality and quantity management. Its key objective is to achieve, by 2015, good status for the over 111,000 surface waters (e.g. rivers, lakes, coastal waters) and the over 13,000 groundwaters in EU territory. Achieving “good status” means securing good ecological and chemical status for surface waters and good quantitative and chemical status for groundwaters, main sources of abstraction of drinking water.

The Floods Directive (FD), introduced seven years later as one of the responses to the major floods along the Danube and Elbe rivers in the summer of 2002, sets a framework for reducing the risks of flood damage within the EU. Today this goal is more relevant than ever, in light of increased flooding across Europe. As climate change advances and urban settlements expand, the uncertainties surrounding flood risk management require continuous monitoring and adjustment of practices to ensure the least possible damage.

This report is accompanied by a series of Commission Staff Working Documents with both EU overviews and individual Member State assessments and summaries of international co-operation.