Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ref: EuropeAid/119168/C/SV/BA / Technical REPORT 1
Water Protection Plan
A project financed by the European Union Implemented by Carl Bro a/s in consortium with REC BiH and NERI / Page 1 of 85 /
Water Quality Management at River Basin Level
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ref: EuropeAid/119168/C/SV/BA / Technical REPORT 1
Water Protection Plan
Table of Contents
1.Summary
2.Introduction
3.Approach of the Water Quality Management Project
3.1Brief history overview – Setting the stage
3.2WFD in the context of the development of the water and waste water sector in BiH
3.3Methodology of the Water Protection Plan preparation
3.4Process of the Water Protection Plan preparation
4.Water Protection Plan – Planning and Decision Making Process
4.1Objectives and results of the Water Protection Plan
4.2Methodology and Logic of the Decision Making and Planning Process
4.3Measures in the Context of the Water Protection Plan
4.4Water Protection Plan Preparation Process
5.Identification of the Major Water Pollution Problems
5.1WQM Project focus on urban wastewater
5.2Industrial pollution
5.3The planning process
5.4Other pressures
5.5Clarification of further needs for measures through monitoring
6.The Water Framework Directive and the Urban Waste Water Directive
7.WQM DSS-application / Water Quality Problems Identification / Ranking Criteria for the Identified Problems
7.1Data assessment, availability, identified gaps and future needs
7.1.1Population data and agglomerations
7.1.2Minimum flow data
7.1.3Data on existing sewerage data
7.1.4Other data
7.1.5Conclusions
7.2DSS ranking criteria
7.2.1Criterion 1 – Impact of UWW on rivers
7.2.2Criterion 2 – Cost effectiveness
7.2.3Criterion 3 –Influence on Aquifers and Reservoirs used for Drinking Water
7.2.4Criterion 4 – Bathing water (Recreation/Tourism/Health risk)
7.2.5Criterion 5 – Management Practice Indicator
8.Impact of UWW on Lakes
9.Ranking of Agglomerations to Rivers
10.Presentation of the Decision Support System Results
11.Feasibility Criteria – From the List of Problem to the WPP
12.Water Protection Plan – Programme of Measures
13.Annexes
13.1Cost Estimates
13.2Oxygen Consumption Potential calculation
List of Abbreviations
BiH / Bosnia and HerzegovinaBOD / Biological Oxygen Demand
CIS / Common Implementation Strategy for the EU Water Framework Directive
Consultant / Carl Bro a/s in association with REC and NERI
DSFI / Danish Stream Fauna Index
DSS / Decision Support System
Dublin Report / Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive: Principles and communication of results of the first analysis under the Water Framework Directive, Dublin June 2004
DW / Directorate for Water
EC / European Commission
EEA / European Environmental Agency
ELV / Emission Limit Values
EQR / Ecological quality Ratio
EQS / Environmental Quality Standard
EU / European Union
GEP / Good Ecological Potential
GIS / Geographical Information System
HMWB / Heavily Modified Water Body
ICPDR / International Commission for the Protection of the DanubeRiver
IFI / International Financing Institution
IMPRESS / EU CIS guidance on Impact and Pressures
MAP / Mediterranean Action Plan
Nitrogen / Nitrogen
P / Phosphorus
Primary Beneficiaries / The PCWA of SavaRiver - Sarajevo, the PCWA of the Adriatic Sea Catchments - Mostar, the DW – Bijeljina
PCWAs / Public Companies for Watershed Areas
PE / Population Equivalent
Project / The Consultant together with the Primary Beneficiaries
SC / Steering Committee
RBD / River Basin District
RBMP / River Basin Management Plan
REFCON / EU CIS Guidance on establishing reference conditions and ecological status class boundaries for inland surface waters
TN / Technical Note
ToR / Terms of Reference
TR / Technical Report
UWW / Urban Waste Water
UWWD / Urban Waste Water Directive (Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste water treatment)
UWWTP / Urban Waste Water Treatment Plant
WB / Water Body
WBR / Water Body at Risk
WFD / Water Framework Directive
WPP-Plan / The Water Protection Plan elaborated by the Project
WWTP / Waste Water Treatment Plant
WQM / Water Quality Management
WQS / Water Quality Standards
List of explanations of central technical terms
Agglomeration / According the Urban Waste Water Directive 'agglomeration' means an area where the population and/or economic activities are sufficiently concentrated for urban waste water to be collected and conducted to an urban waste water treatment plant or to a final discharge pointDecision Support System / A Decision Support Systems (DSS) is normally defined as an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents and personal knowledge to identify and solve problems and make decisions.This Project uses a broader definition: DSS are procedures that combine criteria, models and expert judgement to optimise decisions in terms of cost-benefit.
Feasibility / The project defines feasibility as the ability of national authorities in cooperation with IFIs and international donors to practically implement specific measures that are identified as among the most cost-effective
Good Status (WFD) / The values of the biological quality elements for the surface water body type show low levels of distortion resulting from human activity, but deviate only slightly from those normally associated with the surface water body type under undisturbed conditions
River basin WFD) / The area of land from which all surface runoff flows through a sequence of streams, rivers and, possibly, lakes into the sea at a single river mouth, estuary or delta
Population Equivalent (UWWD) / '1 p.e. (population equivalent)' means the organic biodegradable load having a five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of 60 g of oxygen per day
Pressure / The direct effect of the driver (driver is an anthropogenic activity that may have an environmental effect, e.g. agriculture, industry) for example, an effect that causes a change in flow or a change in the water chemistry.
Project Fiche / According the ToR for the Project the Project Fiche describe basic technical and financial requirements needed to accomplish "water quality protection" activities. These sheets will be used for transparent and well structured "problem presentation" to the foreign donors/investors/creditors.
Sensitive areas (UWWD) / A water body is identified as a sensitive area if it is natural freshwater lakes, other freshwater bodies, estuaries and coastal waters which are found to be eutrophic or which in the near future may become eutrophic if protective action is not taken and estuaries, bays and other coastal waters which are found to have a poor water exchange, or which receive large quantities of nutrients.
Significant Pressure / A pressure that is “worth mentioning” and contributes to failure or risk of failure to achieve the specified objective
Status (WFD) / The physical, chemical, biological, or ecological behavior of a water body
Water Body / A coherent sub-unit in the river basin (district) to which the environmental objectives of the directive must apply. Hence, the main purpose of identifying “water bodies” is to enable the status to be accurately described and compared to environmental objectives.
1.Summary
The present report is the final version of the Water Protection Plan (WPP) as prepared by the WQM-Project. The elaborated WPP is a step in the water quality management development process and the result of extensive dialogue with the beneficiary institutions.
The present WPP builds on the outputs of the Decision Support System application and presents the approach of the Project on the WQM planning and development process.
The project has selected 5 criteria for the DSS-Application, as among the most crucial to consider when considering a project on sewerage and UWW-treatment for implementation.
1.Impact of waste water on rivers
2.Cost-Effectiveness
3.Influence on Aquifers and Reservoirs used for Drinking Water
4.Bathing water (Health risk/Recreation/Tourism)
5.Management Practice Indicator
2.Introduction
This final of the WPP-Plan shall provide an input to the further work of the Project Beneficiaries on the Water Quality Management Process in BiH.
The following results are required in the ToR:
1.Water Protection Plan drafted with a clear indication of short-term, medium-term and long-term measures needed to improve the quality of surface waters in Bosnia and Herzegovina
2.Decision Support System for water quality management developed
3.Water quality/quantity monitoring network conceptualised
4.Scope and set-up of water quality laboratories identified.
This report addresses the first result, the Water Protection Plan, using the second result, the DSS elaborated by the project..
While elaborating the results the Project has aimed at having a close dialogue with the beneficiary institutions as shown in the figure below:
Some general ‘Driving forces’ for WQM that need to be elaborated further and strengthened in BiH are:
- Cost recovery issues related to establishment and running of sewerage and urban waste water treatment plants,
- Awareness of water quality problems.
- Legislation for Water Quality Management,
- Overall strategy for Water Quality Management,
with the aim of solving the major water pollution problems in BiH for the benefit of the population of BiH.
The two main constraints that the Project has aimed to overcome during the process of WQM Plan development are:
- Lack of data
- Lack of tools, resources and mechanisms among BiH water and environmental sector institutions in general to start and guide the further WQM Plan implementation process.
Lack of (quality) data is the smaller/minor issue of these two constraints. The WQM-Plan elaborated by the Project is based on available data. There have been gaps in the data available, but the project has used the WFD approach on missing information: Lack of data should not be an excuse – demonstrate you tried and has identified data gaps and actions to fill these gaps.
It is the intention of the Project to overcome the second constraint, ie lack of the capacity among BiH institutions to actually implement the WQM Plan, by conducting an intensive planning process for the WQM Plan development with the full and active participation of the stakeholders/beneficiaries. Through this process two different sets of measures c/should be defined,
- Short term measures need to identified that reflect not only accepted and well understood criteria but also currently available driving forces for the implementation of waste water projects in BiH.
- Medium and long term measures need to be identified that cannot be implemented without further strengthening of the BiH water and environmental structures.
Short term measures
International Financing Institutions (IFIs) active in BiH (together with other international agencies) are the main driving force regarding project implementation of the short term measures for UWW. The criteria and requirements for measures/projects which until now have been identified for implementation with support from IFIs can be summarized as:
- well defined and elaborated needs for improved waste water services
- strong commitment and ownership of the local government units (Municipalities)
- sufficient financial capacity (in the case of the direct lending to Municipalities and/or Cantons)
- willingness and commitment of the municipalities to meet cost recovery criteria.
From the Project’s point of view these criteria are well defined and reflect sound practice of the sustainable environmental management.
But it is obvious that above criteria have primarily local focus and whole picture from the overall country prospective is not included. The challenge is to secure that the measures/projects selected for implementationare among those giving the highest environmental benefits compared to the costs.
Thus, the Project expects the elaborated WQM-Plan will partly answer the questions above and contribute to:
- the awareness of (water quality) problems,
- the awareness of means and ways of problem solution,
- investment planning and
- dialogue with IFIs (and donors)
Medium and long term measures
Further to the elaboration of short term measures, the Project will put high importance and focus on the further WQM planning process. This process will be well documented throughout the Project’s Technical Notes and the WQM Guidance Book and should be result in:
- Set of medium and long term measures including not only proposals for environmental investment projects but also other measures and activities
- Close dialogue with the beneficiaries to promote understanding of the process and techniques for the sound WQM planning.
3.Approach of the Water Quality Management Project
This report attempts to present the
Connections and relevancy of Water Protection Plan (WPP) for the WFD implementation process in BiH
Project concept for preparation of the WPP
Methodology and Process for the WPP preparation
Information needed to take decisions to improve water quality in BiH
Presentation of the WPP process results
Next steps proposals
3.1Brief history overview – Setting the stage
The Environmental Policy of the EU is defined with a set of legal and supporting documents covering 10 different sectors constituting so call EU acquis. WFD is the latest ‘big’water related directive, thus to understand the role and importance of the WFD it is important to understand the situation and level of development prior to the introduction of the WFD. It is obvious that the acquis represents a very complicated and heavy set of legal instruments that request enormous implementation resources.
What can be considered as common framework for the above legislation?
- Strict Command and Control approach
- Single pollutant/polluter approach
- Medium focused approach (water as medium, its quality is defined mostly through the chemical and biological parameters)
- Heavy investments needed for the implementation
Historically, environmental management was developed separate from the economy; the main driving forces were pressure from the general public, willingness of the public to support and invest in environmental protection and management, sufficient funds, economic power and available (EU based) latest technology standards.
Altogether, this ensured the development of sound / sustainable environmental management standards / systems in the EU member states. Further benefits were achieved in efficiency improvements, e.g. in industrial production through technological improvements
In conclusion, significant improvements in pollution control and environmental protection measures wereachievedcontributing to a healthy environment.
However, the above described evolutionary system development can not be easily transposed (as a whole) to the conditions of BiH. Moreover, it also does not provide ready-made answersof how to develop appropriate water management structures at the national scale, following an integrated approach by putting in account cumulative environmental impacts, needs of specific sensitive areas, social needs and economic elements.
Thus the main challenges, from the perspective of the EU member state countries are:
- How to maintain already achieved conditions on the smaller (national scale) and bigger (international) scale including see basins.
- On what basis to identify areas that need future improvements
- What should be criteria for designing additional supporting measures
- What should be criteria for decision making process
- How to make transposition from the state orientated, single polluter approach towards integrated river basin approach - putting in account river basin issues and creating systems that will be functional and applicable along the whole vertical structure, from the see water basins down to the national catchments and sub catchments.
Obviously, considering the previously described development and achieved status, a further improvement of the already achieved high standards would be too costly, not very effective and also difficult to achieve.
A big challenge was therefore how to secure (or even improve) the already achieved high environmental standards and not to constrain the overall social development. This important issue is often overlooked by many environmentalists. It has to be kept in mined that many countries have scarce resources, in particular with regard to water quantity/quality.
Decisions who, and for what kind of economic activities, will obtain the right to access and use of water resources are one among the major economic and social issues to be addressed. Reference is made to ongoing EU framework research projects (e.g. MULINO, WATERMAN and similar) where social and economic values including strong public participation components are in the focus of the interest. (Maximizations of the social and economic benefits under constrained environmental boundary conditions, derogation of environment justified on the economic basis).
Thus a new approach was needed and the WFD as ‘Framework Directive’ was the answer primarily designed for countries that already have implemented (or start to implement) the EU acquis; providing a powerful planning tool of how to maintain achieved results and how to improve the situation in the most cost effective way; and finally providing a basis for a potential derogation with regard to water quality objectives/status when it is economically and socially justified and supported through transparent procedures.
The WFD can thus be considered as innovative framework / planning tool, comprising -
- Integral approach (water management at river basin level)
- Water quality assessment is increasingly based on (water) ecosystem approach
- New monitoring requirements
- Economic assessment of the water use
- Definition of the water bodies
- Definition of the pressures and water bodies at risk
- Request for definition of the least cost / most cost effective measures (or better decisions)
- Promotion of full cost recovery, new pricing policy schemas, cost effectiveness and economic instruments
- Integrated environmental management, based on economic and social criteria and related considerations.
- Strong involvement of the public and public participation as one of the most important planning tools
WFD and other EU environmental legislation
The WFD does not replace/over write existing legislation and directives; with the introduction of the WFD in EU member state countries it has been assumed that specific legislation and directives have been substantially implemented; the implementation of the WFD therefore requires a new context for an amended approach that is based on an ecosystem approach with particular focus on economic analysis of water use.