Water Framework Directive (WFD)

1. 27.11.2019 – OECD, Paris
Update on EU water policies
Emilien Gasc, Policy officer , European Commission – Secretariat General
emilien.gasc@ec.europa.eu
1. Fitness check (WFD) and evaluation (UWWTD)
2. [Financing]
3. Recent adoptions, ongoing negotiations
4. Future?

2. What is ongoing in the water area?
Water
Framework
Directive (WFD)
2 Daughter
Directives
Groundwater
Directive
Environmental
Quality
Standards
Directives
Strategic approach
to pharmaceuticals
in the environment
Floods Directive
Basic measures
Urban Waste
Water Treatment
Directive
Nitrates Directive,
Sewage Sludge
Directive, Bathing
Water Directive
(Recast)
Drinking Water
Directive
Water re-use
Regulation
Other related
instruments:
• Marine Strategy
Framework
Directive
• Plastics
Strategy
• Industrial
Emissions
Directive
• Tyre labelling
Regulation
(recast)
Under Evaluation
EC proposal
Recently adopted

3. (Fitness check concluding)
Water Framework Directive 1/3
• Water deterioration
halted
• Better monitoring,
more transparent
information
• More integrated water
management
• Significant
investments made
• Slower progress than
expected (2027 just over 7
years away)
• Only 40% surface waters and
74% groundwaters bodies in
good status
• Long-standing problems:
agriculture, hydromorphology,
persistent chemicals
• Uneven implementation,
uneven monitoring
• New problems
• Legislation could be more
efficient
• The price for water is still
not ‘right’

4. Cost recovery
• Article 9 largely not implemented (valuation of environmental
and resource costs, PPP)
• Yet citizens’ willingness to pay exceeds current expenditure
• Exemptions [53% of water bodies] are based on claims of
« disproportionate costs » not always adequately justified
(Fitness check concluding)
Water Framework Directive 2/3

5. Additional observations
• Large preference for easy technological fixes addressing
point-source pollution, over policies addressing diffuse
pollution
• Budgets determine actions, instead of needs determining
budgets
• Flexibility, location-specific water management VS
complexity, enforceability
(Fitness check concluding)
Water Framework Directive 3/3

6. Evaluation: Objective
(Evaluation concluding)
Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
Collection
Agglomerations > 2000
population equivalent
(p.e.)
Alternative: Individual and
other appropriate systems
Treatment
Secondary treatment
= minimum
Agglomerations >
10 000 population
equivalent (p.e.)
discharging into sensitive
areas provided with
More Stringent Treatment
Monitoring
and reporting
Performance of treatment
plants
Biennial reporting
to EC

7. UWWTD – Compliance rates
Compliance
rates
Article 3
(collection)
Article 4
(secondary
treatment)
Article 5
(more
stringent
treatment)
EU 15 98.8% 90.6% 82.7%
EU 13 76.3% 73.1% 64.8%
EU 28 95.1% 88.0% 75.6%
Distance to
target
Collection
Secondary
treatment
More
stringent
treatment
EU 15 0.2% 5.6% 13.8%
EU 13 5.7% 10.3% 18.4%
EU 28 1.1% 6.3% 15.6%
Source: 10th EU report on the implementation of the Directive, 2016 data

8. Since 1991 the UWWTD has delivered
Biochemical
Oxygen
Demand
(BOD) loads
(tonnes/year
in treated
waste water)
Source: JRC Science for Policy

9. … and helped improve EU bathing waters
Conditions
of EU inland
freshwaters
with regard
to bathing
water
standards
under
different
scenarios
Source: JRC Science for Policy

10. Remaining loads that can be avoided (SD=agglomerations <2 000 p.e.,
CSO=combined sewer overflows, IAS=individual or other appropriate systems);
The total urban waste water generated is about 612 mio p.e.
… but everything is not perfect yet
Source: JRC Science for Policy, forthcoming

11. UWWTD - Room for improvement
Remaining implementation,
overflows, individual systems
Contaminants of emerging
concern, polluter pays principle
Reporting, monitoring,
information to the public
Investment needs, investment
planning, affordability
Circular economy, sludge
management, energy use

12. 0 2.000 4.000 6.000 8.000 10.000 12.000 14.000 16.000 18.000 20.000 22.000
Malta
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Cyprus
Croatia
Luxembourg
Bulgaria
Finland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Romania
Hungary
Portugal
Denmark
Sweden
Ireland
Greece
Austria
Czech Republic
Belgium
Poland
Netherlands
Spain
Italy
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Supply Sanitation
Estimated annual expenditures for water supply and
sanitation per member state
millionEUR,2011-15annualaverage
Source: OECD preliminary

13. (EURbillion)
Source:OECDanalysisbasedonEuropeanCommissionandEurostatdata.
Projecting financing needs
WSS - BAU + Compliance + efficiency
Total cumulative additional expenditures by 2030 for water supply and sanitation
0 10 20 30 40 50
Malta
Cyprus
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Slovenia
Luxembourg
Croatia
Finland
Slovakia
Denmark
Hungary
Greece
Ireland
Bulgaria
Portugal
Czech Republic
Austria
Sweden
Belgium
Netherlands
Romania
Poland
Spain
Italy
France
United Kingdom
Germany
BAU WS WW TOTEX (EUR bn)
Source: OECD preliminary

14. Projecting financing needs
Per Annum additional expenditures by 2030
Source: OECD preliminary
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120% 140% 160% 180%
Germany
Slovenia
Netherlands
Greece
Cyprus
Czech Republic
France
Italy
Denmark
United Kingdom
Belgium
Lithuania
Ireland
Hungary
Austria
Portugal
Poland
Latvia
Luxembourg
Spain
Croatia
Sweden
Malta
Estonia
Slovakia
Finland
Bulgaria
Romania

15. Share of EU funding in estimated total
expenditures for WSS per country
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Sweden
United Kingdom
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Spain
Poland
Portugal
Malta
Slovenia
Croatia
Slovakia
Hungary
Greece
Lithuania
Bulgaria
Latvia
Romania
Estonia
2011-15
annual
average
Note:ItisassumedthatEUtransfersarealways
channelledthroughdomesticbudgetsofeachmember
statesandthattheyare,thereforenotadditionalto
governmentexpenditures.
Source:OECDanalysisbasedonEUROSTAT(forpast
estimatedexpenditures),EuropeanCommission
Directorate-GeneralforRegionalandUrbanPolicy(Open
DataPortalforEuropeanStructuralandInvestment
Funds).
Source: OECD preliminary

16. Updated quality
parameters
Materials in
contact with
water
(Proposal)
Recast of Drinking Water Directive (1/2)
- Lead
- End. disruptors
- Microplastics
- Hazard/Risk
management

17. European Citizens’ Initiative 2013:
Right2Water

18. Access to water
Transparency
Agreement on 3 December?
(Proposal)
Recast of Drinking Water Directive (2/2)

19. (Proposal)
Regulation on Water Reuse
• Introducing minimum quality
requirements for water reuse in
agricultural irrigation:
1) Parametric values for quality of
reclaimed water & monitoring
requirements – addressing health
risks
2) Key risk management tasks –
addressing ENVIRONMENTAL
risks & potential additional health
risks
Agreement on 2 December?

20. (Adopted – March 2O19)
Strategic approach to Pharmaceuticals:
Pathways to the environment
*Communication from the Commission:
European Union Strategic Approach to Pharmaceuticals in the Environment,
March 2019

21. • Increase awareness and promote
prudent use of pharmaceuticals
Key proposed actions:
• Support development of pharmaceuticals intrinsically less
harmful for the environment and promote greener
manufacturing
• Improve environmental risk assessment
• Expand environmental monitoring
• Reduce waste and improve waste management
• Fill other knowledge gaps

22. (Agreed – November 2O19)
Recast of the Tyre labelling Regulation
Tyres largest source of
unintentional
microplastic emissions
(Eunomia 2018)
Recast includes
provision to develop
methodology on tyre
abrasion rate
(=indirect way to
address microplastic
emissions)

23. Future?

24. President-elect’s Political Guidelines

25. “Nature-based solutions and
ecosystems-based approaches often
provide multiple benefits regarding
water management”
Long-term strategy
(Communication “Clean planet for all”, 2018)

26. European Green Deal?
(Publication 11 December 2019)