WD/2016-2/2

Status box
Agenda item: 5a)
Title: WFD CIS Progress Report
Version no.:1.0Date: November 2016
Author(s): Commission, DG Environment, Unit C1–Clean Water
Summary
This Progress Report for the period May 2016 to November 2016, presented by the Commission, is based on the outcome of the last Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG) meeting and the progress reports presented by the Working Groups and Ad-hoc Task Groups. The report shall provide a brief overview of on-going activities to the Water Directors.
This progress report is available in WFD CIRCAbc in the meeting documents folder for the Bratislava Water Directors' meeting. The more detailed progress reports of the different Working Groups are available in the folder for the last SCG meeting (27-28 October 2016).
Water Directors are invited to:
  • Take note of the overall progress report for the last six months;
  • Take note of the progress in the Working Groups and Ad-hoc Task Groups.
Contact:
Helen Jolly () /

Common Implementation Strategy for the
Water Framework Directive

Progress Report
for the period June 2016 – November 2016

Presented by the Commission, DG Environment

1Introduction

2Documents for batch endorsement

3Overall progress

3.1Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG)

3.2WFD Committee

3.3Working Groups

3.3.1Working Group ECOSTAT

3.3.2Working Group Groundwater

3.3.3Working Group Chemicals

3.3.4Working Group Floods

3.3.5Working Group on Data and Information Sharing (DIS)

3.4Ad-hoc Task Groups

3.4.1Ad-hoc Task Group Guidance on Article 4(7)

3.4.2Ad-hoc Task Group Hydromorphology

3.4.3Ad-hoc Task Group Water Reuse

1Introduction

At the last regular meeting of the Water Directors (WD) under the Dutch Presidency in June 2016, the following issues were discussed: the way WD wished to take forward the work on water and agriculture in the coming years, in particular the establishment of a joint agenda with Agriculture Directors; lessons learned on implementing the WFD. The terms of reference of the Ad-hoc Task Group on Water Reuse and the CIS Guidelines on Integrating Water Reuse in Water Planning and Management in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) were endorsed by WD. A number of other issues were presented and discussed, includingA Starter's Guide - overview on the main provisions of the Birds and Habitats Directives, the Water Framework Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Floods Directive: similarities and differences; Drinking Water Seminarorganised by the European Commission in cooperation with the Netherlands EU Presidency, with the aim to discuss next steps to better protect drinking water beyond the approach laid down in the Drinking Water Directive 98/83 EC (DWD); Cultural Heritage and Water; Aquaculture Guidance; Development process for a legislative proposal on minimum quality requirements for reused water in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge; Update on a specific investment platform for water; Update on the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR). This twenty-sixth CIS progress report covers the period since the WD meeting in The Netherlands in June 2016 and ismainly based on the presentations, the discussions and the outcomes of the meeting of the Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG) held on 27-28 October 2016 and the individual progress reports of the Working Group (WG) and Ad-hoc Task Group (ATG) leaders[1].

In the period covered by this report, an Extraordinary meeting of the Water Directors was organised in Brussels on the 6th of October to discuss mainly the issue of the WFD beyond 2027 and the call from Water Directors at the Amsterdam meeting to "urgently work to better understand the challenges with regard to the deadline of 2027 and to develop options to enable continuous and ambitious national implementation regarding specifically the third WFD cycle but also beyond".

2Documents for batch endorsement

Thereare no documents for batch endorsement.

3Overall progress

3.1Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG)

In the reporting period, the Strategic Co-ordination Group met on 27-28 October 2016 todiscuss primarilythe state of play of the adoption of the River Basin Management Plans and the Flood Risk Management Plans, the activities of the Working Groups and Ad-hoc Task Groupsand to prepare the meeting of the Water Directors in Bratislava (SK).

In addition, the seventh meeting of the Prep-SCG took place on 28 September 2016, with the participation of leads of all CIS activities and a representative of the SlovakPresidency. The Prep-SCG meeting discussed the progress of activities in the different working groups and ad-hoc task groups, and prepared the meeting of the SCG, proposing a number of points for discussion.

3.2WFD Committee

A meeting of the Article 21 Committeewas held on 28 October 2016 in order to address the following items: state of play on preparation of the Intercalibration Decision; state of play regarding alignment of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to post-Lisbon situation (delegated acts).

3.3Working Groups

3.3.1Working Group ECOSTAT

Key events in the period:

13-14 October 2016 – Kickoff meeting of the CIS ECOSTAT Hydromorphology group in Ispra (IT)

  • 20-21 October 2016 – 32nd ECOSTAT meeting, Den Helder (NL)
  • 9-10 November 2016 – Nutrient standards meeting, Berlin (DE)

Upcoming key events and deadlines:

  • 1-2 February 2017 – 33rd ECOSTAT meeting, Brussels (BE) (extra ECOSTAT for the finalisation of the intercalibration exercise)
  • 31 December 2016 – final deadline for submitting pending intercalibration reports to JRC

Progress – CIS Work Programme deliverables:

Intercalibration progress and remaining issues: Considerable progress has been made with the finalisation of the intercalibration exercise, and many of the gaps identified at the level of the Geographical Intercalibration Group and individual Member States have been addressed. Those reports that were submitted to JRC before the agreed deadline of 1 July have been reviewed and detailed documents on the progress and remaining gaps were prepared for the ECOSTAT meeting of 20-21 October.

The situation for each individual report was discussed in detail, and groups and Member States were given the opportunity to submit their reports before the final deadline of 31 December 2016. An additional ECOSTAT meeting will be organised (1-2 February 2017) for approval of the results still pending.

Nutrient work: Further work proposed by the steering group for 2016-2017 included the production of Best Practice Guide for setting, checking and adjusting nutrient boundaries, with further gathering of information on how Member States use nutrient boundaries. In September 2016, the first draft of Best Practice Guide and tool-kit has been produced and sent out to the task group for comments and testing. This draft will be discussed at the meeting in Berlin on 9-10 November 2016, after which a second draft will be produced which will be circulated to ECOSTAT.

More detailed information onHymo issues within the ECOSTAT work programme (E1-E5 of the ATG Hymo mandate) is provided under item 3.4.2 Ad-hoc Task Group Hydromorphology

3.3.2Working Group Groundwater

Key events in the period:

  • The WG Groundwater meeting took place on 25-26 October in Bratislava (SK). The agenda comprised the following issues included in the mandate: threshold value variability; voluntary Groundwater Watch List; updates on the WFD and GWD Annexes review (way forward subject to WDs discussion in November); and other tasks of the group (such as information exchange on methods for trend assessment/trend reversal of pollutants in groundwater, links between the Drinking Water Directive and the WFD, as well as updates on quantitative issues and links with wastewater reuse initiatives).

Upcoming key events and deadlines:

-The Groundwater Watch List volunteers group met on 23-24 June 2016 in Vienna (AT), where significant progress was achieved on the concept paper. The final draft will be completed at the end of 2016, and possibly adapted once the methodology has been tested. The final report will be adopted in Malta in spring 2017.

-The final terms of referencefor the threshold values task will be provided in due course (discussion took place in Bratislava and feedback is being gathered).

-The next WG GW meeting will take place on 25-26 April 2017 in Malta (MT), under the umbrella of the Maltese Presidency.

Progress – CIS Work Programme deliverables:

Groundwater Watch List: The group of volunteers for this activity continue the work in line with the agreed road map. The group will distribute the final concept paper by end 2016.

3.3.3Working Group Chemicals

Key events in the period:

  • There was no meeting of the WG Chemicals during the period. A meeting had been provisionally planned for June 2016, but outputs from the Sub-Group on Review of the Priority Substances list were still awaited. For similar reasons, the WG Chemicals meeting originally planned for October 2016 was also postponed (to December, see below). Meetings of the Sub-Group were held on 9-10 June and 11-13 October, and the outputs will be documented for discussion at the December WG Chemicals meeting. The meeting will also consider first actions on the other tasks identified in the WG's work programme.
  • 5th meeting of the Sub-Group on Review of the Priority Substances List – 9-10 June 2016:

The 5th meeting of the SG-R took place in Gavirate, IT, in June. There was discussion of the substances to be selected on the basis of the STE methodology, and of the results of the screening phase of the modelling-based exercise. Draft criteria for deselecting existing PS were also discussed, as was the need to review some existing EQS. Other topics were the need to consider drinking water standards, the revision of the Technical Guidance Document on Deriving Environmental Quality Standards (TGD-EQS) and the timeline for further work.

  • 6th meeting of the Sub-Group on Review of the Priority Substances List – 11-13 June 2016:

The 6th meeting of the SG-R took place in Ispra (IT) in October. Final discussions were held on the monitoring- and modelling-based methodologies and their outputs. The SG also discussed the list of substances obtained by merging the outputs, and the factsheets prepared for those substances. An update on the revision of the Technical Guidance Document on Deriving EQS TGD-EQS was presented, and some additional comments were received from the SG. The JRC will finalise documentation ahead of the WG Chemicals meeting. For certain substances, a decision on whether to identify them as candidate PS may require further technical work which would not be finalised before the WG Chemicals meeting on 15-16 December. For these substances, the JRC will present the state of play on the discussions. Some further technical exchanges between SG members may occur by email.

Upcoming key events and deadlines:

Events:

  • The next WG Chemicals meeting will take place in Brussels (BE) on 15-16 December 2016.

Deadlines:

  • A mechanism for Member States to report the data from their Watch List monitoring programmes has been established and information is being provided via the Water Directors. The deadline for reportingis 20 December 2016.

Progress – CIS Work Programme deliverables:

Review of the Priority Substances list: Progress is covered above. Members of the WG Chemicals will consider the outputs from the work of the Sub-Group on Review at their December meeting and discuss the next steps.

Activity on effect-based tools: Leads and contributors have been identified and terms of reference have been drafted which will be discussed at the December WG Chemicals meeting.

Activity on the bioavailability of metals: Leads and contributors have been identified. Terms of reference are being drafted and will be made available to the WG for discussion at the December meeting.

3.3.4Working Group Floods

Key events in the period:

20 MS had reported on their 2015 Flood Risk Management Plans by mid-October 2016.

04-05 October 2016: Workshop on pluvial flooding in Berlin (DE): During the workshop presentations were given on the perspectives of MS, challenges and key results of the workshop questionnaire as an introduction to each session.

The agenda, presentations and a first draft of the report are available on CIRCABC:

Update on the specific questionnaire on the implementation of the first cycle of the Floods Directive (Vienna Workshop, WG F 19): All 28 MS have replied to this specific questionnaire. The ensuing draft report is being commented by WGF. The expected delivery date for the final version is March 2017 (WGF21).

05-06 October: 20th meeting of Working Group on Floods, Berlin (DE):

Among the agenda items were presentations by DE, FR and IE on the floods that struck their countries in winter 2015/16 and spring/summer 2016, an update by COM on implementation progress of the FD and on relevant EU policies and projects; the work programme for 2016-2018. In addition, there were discussions on the review of the reporting guidance and reporting schemas in view of the first reporting in March 2019 under the 2nd cycle of implementation, and on how to bring to the fore good practices in PFRAs and FHRMs. The meeting documents and presentations are available in CIRCABC via the link mentioned above.

Upcoming key events and deadlines:

  • 14-16 March 2017: 21st Working Group Floods meeting in Bucharest (RO). A one-day workshop on "climate change" back to back with WGF21 will take place.
  • Estonia (EE) volunteered to host WG F 22 in October 2017 (tentative date:17-19 October).

Progress CIS Work Programme deliverables:

Deliverables under the 2016-18 are being tackled. The thematic one-day workshops are foreseen deliverables and the 1st cycle report is a major one.

A discussion on the review of the reporting guidance and reporting schemas took place and a subgroup to contribute to the process was created (results are expected by end 2017) in view of the first reporting in March 2019 under the 2nd cycle of implementation.

A discussion on how to bring to the fore good practices in PFRAs and FHRMs took place and a critical mass of MSs expressed an interest to be associated closer. This will be in continuation of the "current practice PFRA" document that drafted and shared with an initial group of MSs to provide contributions.

The latest version of the mandate for WG Floods 2016-18 is available in CIRCABC via the following link:

Other issues:

The ICPR presented a tool for the assessment of the effects of measures on flood risk and the OECD presented the Principles on Water Governance: Application of the Principles on Flood Risk Management. An invitation was extended to WGF for comments to OECD's draft paper on Flood Risk Governance and a call for case studieswas launched.

3.3.5Working Group on Data and Information Sharing (DIS)

Key events in the period:

  • 26-27/05/2016: WG DIS meeting in Copenhagen (DK)
  • 07-08/06/2016: EionetFreshwaterworkshop in Copenhagen (DK)
  • 18-19/10/2016: WG DIS meeting in Brussels (BE)

Upcoming key events and deadlines:

  • 28-29/03/2017: WG DIS meeting in Brussels (BE)
  • TBD: WISE Steering Group meeting in Brussels (BE)

Progress – CIS Work Programme deliverables:

WFD Reporting Guidance 2016: The final version of the reporting guidance, version 6.0.6, was published on 26 April 2016 (see the reporting resources page in Eionet, at With respect to the previous version, a few corrections were introduced. This latest version will now be published with a CIS Guidance number. The main activity linked to the WFD reporting has been the correction of issues raised by data reporters in the Member States through the WFD Helpdesk. These issues have been dealt with by the EEA and the Commission's consultants and have been discussed in some detail in the WG DIS meeting in October.

Progress in reporting: Until now, only 4 Member States have completed reporting in WISE (the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Croatia and Slovakia). Furthermore, 107 of the total of 173 RBMPs have been uploaded as PDF files to WISE and the corresponding envelopes released by the Member States. This corresponds to the complete sets for 12 Member States, partial sets for 5 and no Plans uploaded for the other 11 Member States plus Norway. Member States are at different stages of reporting (for more detailed information, please refer to the WG DIS progress report prepared for the SCG).

Other issues:

SoE reporting: The WISE SoE data request 2016 will be run from 01/11/2016 to 28/02/2017, including Emissions (WISE-1), Water Quantity (WISE-3), Water Quality (WISE-4) and WISE - Spatial Data (WISE-5).

Updated versions of Waterbase, with the data reported in previous data calls, are available at the EEA web site (please refer to the WG DIS progress report for specific links).

Key next steps:

The Commission will continue to assist the MS work on reporting the 2nd RBMPs through the WFD Helpdesk and corrections will be made, if and when needed, to the QA/QC checks. No further changes to the guidance, schemas or Access database are envisaged.

3.4Ad-hoc Task Groups

3.4.1Ad-hoc Task Group Guidance on article 4(7)

Key events in the period:

The work of the ATG was launched with a kick-off meeting of the co-chairs which took place on 28 September 2016, back to back with the Prep-SCG Meeting.

Upcoming key events and deadlines:

  • 13-14 December 2016, Brussels: Workshop on WFD Article 4.7

Progress – CIS Work Programme deliverables:

The co-chairs agreed on the upcoming activities towards the elaboration of a CIS Guidance Document on Article 4.7. On 13-14 December 2016 a Workshop on Article 4.7 will be organised in Brussels. Deadline for registration passed on 2 November with registration of more than 80 participants. As input for the workshop a Key Issue Paper is developed. In addition, practical Case Studies werecollected (deadline for submission was set for 4 November) in order to make the discussions at the workshop and hence the 4.7 Guidance Document as targeted, practical and useful as possible. The Case Studies, Key Issue Paper and results of the Workshop will provide the basis for the elaboration of a first draft of the Guidance Document.

Key next steps:

  • Accomplishment of Workshop on Article 4.7;
  • Preparation of a first draft of the Guidance Document in the beginning of 2017;
  • Elaboration of the Guidance Document during 2017 with input and consultation of the ATG on Article 4.7.

3.4.2Ad-hoc Task Group Hydromorphology

Key events in the period:

  • 13-14 October 2016, Ispra (IT): Kick-off meeting of the CIS Hydromorphology Group under WG ECOSTAT
  • 20-21 October 2016, Den Helder (NL): 32nd WG ECOSTAT Meeting

Upcoming key events and deadlines: