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Percentage of (a) surface water and (b) groundwater bodies at risk of failing WFD objectives, per MS. NB 1 Surface water bodies: no risk assessments reported in Finland, Sweden, Greece and Italy; data for risk assessment for the Slovak Republic do not cover all surface water bodies—water bodies not assessed have been allocated to the " insufficient data " category. NB 2 Groundwater bodies: no risk assessments reported in Finland, Greece and Italy; data for risk assessment in Germany, Sweden, France and Lithuania do not cover all groundwater bodies—bodies not assessed have been allocated to the " insufficient data " category (Source: CEC, 2007a, b).
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Although the European Union (EU) has made some considerable progress regarding protection of water resources (tackling significant problems at national and at EU level), increased efforts are still needed to get and keep its waters clean. After 30 years of developing EU water legislation, all the involved stakeholders express this demand. In 2000,...
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... Overall, the issue of the effectiveness of adopted policy interventions is central to the WFD and directly related to economic principles. However, as at the time when the WFD was introduced only a few Member States had experience with using economic approaches in environmental management, the initial reports of the Member States were not able to fulfil the economic analysis requirements for assessing effectiveness (Kanakoudis and Tsitsifli, 2010 (Heink et al., 2016;Martin-Ortega, 2012;Pistocchi et al., 2016). From a systems point of view, the status of a water body could be considered as an indicator of its overall health, which affects its capacity to generate ecosystem services. ...
... Efforts to encourage efficient water usage to ensure continuous supply during drought periods have been receiving significant attention, especially in Europe under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) through various approaches such as cost recovery principle. This concept aims at controlling water demand and usage through pricing incentive under Article 9 of the WFD (Kanakoudisa & Tsitsiflib, 2010). Nevertheless, caveats in the principle allow countries to decide whether to implement water charges or not due to various socio-political complexities with water prices. ...
This paper investigates and improves understanding of the hydrological behavior of design parameters of bioretention cell (BC) towards different model responses (e.g., surface infiltration, surface outflow, and storage volume) by a global sensitivity analysis (GSA) based approach named the Sobol method. Results demonstrate that conductivity, vegetation volume, and berm height are the most sensitive parameters for surface infiltration and surface outflow, while, in addition to these parameters, soil thickness showed a higher sensitivity for storage volume. Other parameters represented limited sensitivities. Improved understanding of hydrological behaviours of design parameters of BC leads to efficient design configuration at the unit scale, which ultimately helps to improve the overall performance of BC to achieve target design goals at the catchment-scale.
... Efforts to encourage efficient water usage to ensure continuous supply during drought periods have been receiving significant attention, especially in Europe under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) through various approaches such as cost recovery principle. This concept aims at controlling water demand and usage through pricing incentive under Article 9 of the WFD (Kanakoudisa & Tsitsiflib, 2010). Nevertheless, caveats in the principle allow countries to decide whether to implement water charges or not due to various socio-political complexities with water prices. ...
Insufficient freshwater resources and exceeding water demand are significant challenges facing water utilities. Consequently, reliable and accurate short-term prediction is an important tool to efficiently control and manage an existing urban water supply system. Obviously, several studies have been presented in the literature with the aim of improving water demand forecasting using time series techniques. Indeed, forecasting using the Theta methods has gained a lot of importance in many fields, such as economics and industry. In this work, we will examine how Theta methods can improve water demand forecasting using historical monthly water consumption data. Then 'thetaf' package from open R language will be used to assess urban water consumption trends in Casablanca city based on time series from 2015 to 2021. The Dynamic Optimized theta model was found to provide a more accurate prediction of monthly water demand during the forecasting period.
... The introduction of an intercalibration process, aimed at standardizing and harmonizing assessment methods and increasing the comparability of monitoring data, was received positively [11,18]. Furthermore, improved monitoring may result in better priority setting and the development of more cost-effective measures [19]. Nonetheless, a lack of ecosystem knowledge was also described as one of the main complications of WFD implementation e.g., [14,18]. ...
The aim of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to achieve a “good” chemical and ecological status for all waters by 2027. Currently, the Netherlands and other EU Member States are finalizing their plans for the third iteration of the WFD management cycle. In this paper, we conducted an ex ante evaluation of these plans by assessing the perceptions of regional water authorities on goal attainment and the factors that account for it. In order to gain these insights, we first reviewed literature and developed a framework of factors that stimulate or hamper the implementation of the WFD. More detailed insights into the relevance and characteristics of these factors were found by applying the framework in two in-depth case studies. A more generalizable pattern was found by translating the case study results into a survey among the regional water authorities. We found that the majority of the participating water authorities expect that 50% (or more) of their WFD objectives will be achieved in 2027. However, hampering factors such as a lack of political will or the impossibility to address key causes of the problems that were identified during earlier management cycles are still present. Since it is doubtful whether they can be addressed by regional water authorities, we conclude that it will be unlikely that ecological ambitions will be met by 2027.
... From a legal perspective, Santbergen [4] described the WFD as environmental legislation whose interpretation is very complicated because its ambivalent wording contradicts its very principles and objectives. The WFD also places a financial strain and intensely demanding timelines with some misunderstanding on key tenants of the technical and scientific aspects of the directive [5][6][7]. EU member states are further obliged to quantify the cost of the socio-economic and environmental effect of using water services under the WFD; however, article 9 (4) of the directive diffuses the same responsibility. The Article requires that "member states may not be in contravention of any principle if they choose in line with implementation not to comply with the cost recovery as far as it does not undermine the overall purpose and objective of the directive" [6,7]. ...
... EU member states are further obliged to quantify the cost of the socio-economic and environmental effect of using water services under the WFD; however, article 9 (4) of the directive diffuses the same responsibility. The Article requires that "member states may not be in contravention of any principle if they choose in line with implementation not to comply with the cost recovery as far as it does not undermine the overall purpose and objective of the directive" [6,7]. Coordinating the WFD with policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and achieving compliance with Nitrate Directive are other problems identified to be thwarting efforts at reaching a good ecological status for water bodies [2]. ...
The River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) is an essential component of the European Union Water Framework Directive that details an integrated approach required to protect, improve and sustainably manage water resources. RBMP were intended to be produced for the periods 2009–2015, 2016–2021 and 2022–2027. However, after two years of delays in the development processes, the Republic of Ireland produced its first RBMP in 2010. The second RBMP cycle was also implemented in 2018 and is expected to run until the end of 2021 to give way to the third RBMP, whose consultation processes have been ongoing since December 2019. This paper contributes to the forthcoming RBMP by assessing stakeholders’ perspectives on the second RBMP through a desk-based review and by conducting interviews with nine institutions (14 interviewees). The qualitatively analysed interviews reveal a broad spectrum of actors associated with water management and governance in the Republic of Ireland through a three-tier governance structure that has been delivered (with amendment) through the first two RBMPs. Organisations such as the An Fóram Uisce|The Water Forum, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Local Authority Waters, and the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme have responsibilities designated in the RBMPs to deliver improved water quality, integrated catchment management, community engagement and awareness-raising. Trust has also been building up among these organisations and other agencies in the water sector. Despite these responsibilities and progress made, the interviews identified communication lapses, ineffective collaboration and coordination among stakeholders and late implementation to be hampering the successful delivery of the second RBMP, in addition to significant pressures acting on water bodies from agricultural activities and urban wastewater treatment. Towards the third RBMP, the paper concludes that optimised water sector finance, enhanced and well-resourced communications, and improved stakeholder collaboration are needed to foster effective and efficient water services delivery and quality. More so, given the cross-cutting impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on water resources and the interconnected relations among the goals, the paper further recommends the integration of the SDGs in the various plans of actions and a co-benefits approach to derive the triple benefits from biodiversity, climate change initiatives and water quality measures.
... Overall, the issue of effectiveness of adopted policy is central to the WFD and directly related to economic principles. However, as at the time when the WFD was introduced, only a few Member States had experience with using economic approaches in environmental management, the initial reports of the Member States were not able to fulfil the economic analysis requirements for assessing effectiveness (Kanakoudis and Tsitsifli 2010). To assist Member States with these aspects of the WFD, the European Commission published several guidance documents. ...
The 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.
... From a legal perspective, Santbergen [4] described the WFD as environmental legislation whose interpretation is very complicated because its ambivalent wording contradicts its very principles and objectives. The WFD also places a financial strain and intensely demanding timelines with some misunderstanding on key tenants of the technical and scientific aspects of the directive [5][6][7]. EU member states are further obliged to quantify the cost of the socio-economic and environmental effect of using water services under the WFD; however, article 9 (4) of the directive diffuses the same responsibility. The Article requires that "member states may not be in contravention of any principle if they choose in line with implementation not to comply with the cost recovery as far as it does not undermine the overall purpose and objective of the directive" [6,7]. ...
... EU member states are further obliged to quantify the cost of the socio-economic and environmental effect of using water services under the WFD; however, article 9 (4) of the directive diffuses the same responsibility. The Article requires that "member states may not be in contravention of any principle if they choose in line with implementation not to comply with the cost recovery as far as it does not undermine the overall purpose and objective of the directive" [6,7]. Coordinating the WFD with policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and achieving compliance with Nitrate Directive are other problems identified to be thwarting efforts at reaching a good ecological status for water bodies [2]. ...
The River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) is an essential component of the European Union Water Framework Directive that details an integrated approach required to protect, improve and sustainably manage water resources. RBMP were intended to be produced for the periods 2009-2015, 2016-2021 and 2022-2027. However, after two years of delays in the development processes, the Republic of Ireland produced its first RBMP in 2010. The second RBMP cycle was also implemented in 2018 and is expected to run until the end of 2021 to give way to the third RBMP, whose consultation processes have been ongoing since December 2019. This paper contributes to the forthcoming RBMP by assessing stakeholders’ perspectives on the second RBMP through a desk-based review and by conducting interviews with nine institutions (14 interviewees). The qualitatively analysed interviews reveal a broad spectrum of actors associated with water management and governance in the Republic of Ireland through a three-tier governance structure that has been delivered (with amendment) through the first two RBMPs. Organisations such as the An Fóram Uisce|The Water Forum, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Local Authority Waters, and the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme have responsibilities designated in the RBMPs to deliver improved water quality, integrated catchment management, community engagement and awareness-raising. Trust has also been building up among these organisations and other agencies in the water sector. Despite these responsibilities and progress, the interviews identified communication lapses, ineffective collaboration and coordination among stakeholders and late implementation to be hampering the successful delivery of the second RBMP, in addition to significant pressures acting on water bodies from agricultural activities and urban wastewater treatment. Towards the third RBMP, the paper concludes that optimised water sector finance, enhanced and well-resourced communications, and improved stakeholder collaboration are needed to foster effective and efficient water services delivery and quality. More so, given the cross-cutting impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on water resources and the interconnected relations among the goals, the paper further recommends the integration of the SDGs in the various plans of actions and a co-benefits approach to derive the triple benefits from biodiversity, climate change initiatives and water quality measures.
... Water resource management policy will have a variety of complex effects on macro-economy, resources and environment, and policy stakeholders. The adaptive management of water resources believes that it is necessary to make reasonable institutional arrangements and policy choices on the basis of considering the comprehensive impact of system vulnerability and water resource management policies (Yin, 2002;Turner et al., 2003;Pahl-Wostl, 2007;Li et al., 2013;Kanakoudis et al., 2017) and balance the conflicts of interest among heterogeneous multi-subjects related to water resource management (Kanakoudis & Tsitsifli, 2010;Wang & Tong, 2011). Only in this way can water users be effectively guided and encouraged to change their inefficient water-use behavior and achieve human-water harmony. ...
With the rapid advance of industrialization and urbanization and the intensified impact of global climate change, the contradiction between the global water shortage and economic growth has become prominent. This paper, taking Henan province as an example, analyzed the influence of water resource policy on regional economic growth through a calculable general equilibrium model and further discussed the relevant policy recommendations. The results showed that the improvement of water supply, water efficiency and water technology could promote the growth of the regional economy and result in a positive effect on regional GDP, employment and resident income. However, the rise of water price has a negative impact on regional economic development, mainly reflected in regional GDP, employment and household income. The improvement of water price, water efficiency and water conservancy technology would lead to a decrease in regional water consumption, while only the increase of the water supply would lead to an increase in water consumption. Accordingly, the paper put forward policy suggestions, such as accelerating the improvement of water conservancy facilities, establishing a reasonable water price mechanism and actively exploring experience in water conservation and emission reduction.
... Meeting the objectives of the WFD requires organizational restructuring of institutions and administrative arrangements, which remains a persistent challenge, as evidenced by ongoing issues of governance fragmentation within the majority of MS [12]. The management of Europe's waters is a particularly contentious area of environmental governance, as evidenced by Member States experiencing difficulties in fulfilling the requirements of the Nitrates Directive [13,14] and the WFD [15][16][17][18]. ...
The most significant source of nitrate pollution in the European Union (EU) is attributed to agricultural activities, which threaten drinking water, marine, and freshwater resources. The Nitrates Directive is a key feature of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which seeks to reduce nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. Yet, weak compliance by Member States (MS) diminishes the legitimacy of the EU environmental acquis and undermines efforts to achieve environmental objectives. This study examines the nitrate management discourse in Poland to identify influencing factors that impact governance capacity and overall compliance performance. The empirical investigation is based on nine stakeholder interviews, three written correspondences, and a literature review that collectively comprise an evaluation study. A comparison in governance approaches between Poland and Denmark provides a calibration in assessing performance respective to another MS. The findings categorize both Poland and Denmark as “laggard” in WFD compliance. This case contributes new insights in identifying 6 enabling and 13 constraining factors affecting the ability of MS to fulfill their implementation duties. The findings demonstrate that divergent stakeholder views based on historical and cultural norms require a differentiated approach tailored to domestic conditions for effective fulfillment of the objectives set forth in EU environmental legislation.
... At today, not all the Member States, including Italy, have followed the requests, or they have partially answered (Kanakoudis & Tsitsifli, 2010). The WFD recognizes that the achievement of good status might take more time in some water bodies. ...
The current European water legislation, specifically the one addressed to groundwater for human consumption (EU Water Framework Directive, WFD-2000/60/EC), provides clear indications on the objectives and actions to be taken for the proper management and protection of water resources. In Italy, as well as in other countries of the EU, the implementation of this Directive, in the face of an adjustment of the legislation at national level, is still far behind, as regards the obligations on the part of local administrations. Among the reasons there is a lack of cognitive tools, adequate and, above all, univocally accepted by the scientific point of view. The hydrogeological mapping here presented, which covers an area of around 44 km² and is edited at 1:10,000 scale, goes in this direction, combining different approaches and methodologies (field surveys, spring hydrograph analysis, surface flow measurements, numerical models …) to arrive at a complete and functional study of an aquifer exploited for drinking purposes.
