Annex - List of measures on water scarcity and droughts in Austria
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“Water tariffs based on a consistent economic assessment with adequate incentives to use water resources efficiently and adequate contribution of the different water uses to the recovery of the costs of water services”
Article 9 WFD was implemented into Austrian law by § 55e (1) Z 1 Austrian Federal Water Act of 1959. In order to realize the goals of the WFD it is stipulated there that the programmes of measures must contain specification about adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently and about an adequate contribution of the different water uses taking account of the principle ofrecovery of the costs of water services. According to § 55c (4) Austrian Federal Water Act, these two parts must find their way into the programmes of measures until 22 December 2008 as to this date draft copies have to be drawn up. The work on that is in progress.
However, in Austrian law there are already provisions in place which determine charges. With reference to water services, such as water supply and public wastewater disposal, charges are levied from the end user on a local level. With regard to water supply and sanitation, charges are set by the responsible municipality which means that each Austrian federal state lays down its own laws concerning sewers or rather concerning canal tolls. Naturally, all this happens against the background of the prevailing directives (especially 91/271/EEC and 2000/60/EC).
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“Enhanced efforts to introduce compulsory metering programmes in all water using sectors”
Most water suppliers (and all large ones) have metering programmes in place. All abstractions for irrigation are – depending on the quantities abstracted – subject to authorisations / licenses issued by the competent authorities. In some of our 9 provinces the authorisations are issued on conditions of metering the abstractions, while in others – in particular those with abundant water – metering is no prerequisite.
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“More stringent implementation of the SEA Directive (strengthening of national procedures)”
Provisions of the directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (SEA) have found their way into § 55i and j Austrian Federal Water Act of 1959. There the participation of the general public as described in article 6 and the following articles of the directive 2001/42/EC are implemented as well as article 5 (environmental report) and article 7 (transboundary consultations) of the directive. Moreover, Annex 1 is taken into § 55i (5) Austrian Federal Water Act in order to state the contents of the environmental report more precisely, and Annex 2 is transferred into § 55j (4) Austrian Federal Water Act to make clear the criteria for determining the likely significance of effects referred to in article 3(5) of the directive.
According to Article 3 (2)(a) SEA, an environmental assessment has to be carried out for plans and programmes which are prepared for water management and which set the framework for future development consent of projects listed in Annexes I and II to Directive 85/337/EEC. Thus, it is compulsory that for the river basin management plan an environmental assessment is carried out. According to the provisions of the Directive 2001/42/EC and to the provisions of the Directive 2000/60/EC such an environmental assessment is carried out right now in order to follow the provisions especially of the water framework directive that states in article 14 (1)c that draft copies of the river basin management plan shall be published and made available for comments to the public at least one year before the beginning of the period to which the plan refers. This provision concerning the time planning can be found in § 55c (4) as well as in § 55i (4) Austrian Federal Water Act which means that such draft copies must be finished until 22 December 2008. The work on drawing up these draft copies is in progress. According to the provisions of the above-mentioned directives, the public will have the possibility to make comments on the draft copies until June 2009.
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“Address the impacts of biofuel development on water availability”
The risk assessment performed in line with Article 5 WFDhas revealed no regions in Austria suffering from structural water stress. It is conceivable that even developments in the biofuel sector willhave no mayor impacts on water availability.
With regard to biofuelswe are more concerned of potential impacts onthe effectiveness of conventional oil separators which seems to suffer due to differences in the composition of biofuels compared to fossil fuels. Studies to solve this problem are commissioned and the development of new technologies isassigned.
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“Identification of the river basins which face quasi-permanent or permanent water stress or scarcity”
Concerning the water balance,Austria is in a very privileged situation. The monitoring networkon groundwater quantity has been developedconstantly since 1930; monitoring of surface waters and precipitation has a very long tradition too, even longer than ground water monitoring. Data and conclusions regarding the water balance reveal no water bodies suffering from structural water stress.
However, periodically droughts limited in extent and time may appear in the summermonths in particular in the southern and eastern parts of Austria, which are generally facing low precipitation.In these regions efforts have been taken already in the past in order to ensure appropriate supply of drinking water even under conditions of prolonged droughts.
Nevertheless, a separate chapter in the forthcoming River Basin Management Plan of the WFD is intended to be devoted to water scarcity and droughts to take account of potential future impacts of the effects of climate change.
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“For those river basins, setting up of appropriate regulations to restore a sustainable balance (voluntary schemes, compulsory measures)”
See item 5, in particular last sentence
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“Ensure efficient use of EU and national funds to improve water demand management (measures of adaptation, sustainable practices, more water savings, monitoring systems, adapted risk management tools)”
See item 5
Instruments in place are:
- Stringent system of authorisations / licenses with conditions tailormade to the situation
- Dense monitoring network on quantity
- Provisions for water suppliers (see also item 13)
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“Development of fiscal incentives for the promotion of water efficient devices and practices”
Due to the rather limited extentof problems regarding water scarcity and droughts in Austria, fiscal incentives have not been a focus so far. Our focus is more on cost recovery of water services.
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“Setting up of specific drought management plans to supplement WFD river basin management plans”
See item5
With respect to the ongoing work on the River Basin Management Plans apotential need for separate and detailed Drought Management Plans is currently evaluated.
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“Ensure that all adverse effects linked to any additional water supply infrastructure are fully taken into account in the environment assessment”
On the basis of the existing legal framework in Austria and in the course of authorisations / licensing procedures, all adverse effects have to be assessed
Elements, which haveto be taken into accountin the course of authorisation procedures are:
- Ensuring appropriate availability of water also for other users and for the general public
- Serving the needs of ecosystems
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“Development of standards/legitimation for water-using devices”
According to the argumentation under point 5 Austria choosed a problem-oriented approach. As the issue of water scarcity is not ranking among our key water management issues, no further development is foreseen at the moment.
Companies are developing water-saving devices further on their own as they see this as a comparative advantage on the market (e.g. water saving toilets, water saving shower heads, …).
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“Development of standards/legitimation for water performance of buildings”
About 90 % of the Austrian population has access to central drinking water supply systems where water meters are installed area-wide. Abstractions of water have to be authorised. In some of our 9 statesinfiltration of rainwater, collected in roof areas,into subsoils is encouraged to avoid a runoff via the sewage water system.
Furthermore,the Eco- Management and Audit System (EMAS),which includes guidelines on water-saving devices,is promoted and already in place for a number of companies and public institutions.
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“In order to reduce the level of leakage in water networks, adoption of binding performances for new buildings and for public and private networks, with systems of fines for excessive leakages”
Due to reasons already addressed in item 5 and efforts in place to ensure cost recovery for water services, we do not see a real burning need for an adoption of binding performances for new buildings.
Nevertheless, we have provisions in place for water work installations which have led to low leakage rates in general between 8 and 12 %. These are in particular
- A general provision within our drinking water regulations that all installations have to be run in line with best practises and state of the art. External audits have to take place every 5 years.Parts of those audits are also targeted to check losses of water.
- Meters (consumption) are controlled once a year and exchanged every 5 years. This is also one of the possibilities to keep track of excessive consumption and / or leakages and to induce remediation measures.
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“Development of voluntary agreements with all economic sectors that need water (builders, building managers, manufacturers, tourism professionals farmers, local authorities) to develop more water friendly products, buildings, networks and practices”
Due to the comparative low pressures on water availability in Austria, efforts with regard to ensuring cost recovery as well as other measures and instruments are in place.No further development of voluntary agreements is envisaged at the present.
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“Inclusion of rules of water management in existing and future quality and certification schemes”
Rulesfor water management with the aim of reducing water consumption are an important component of the Eco- Management and Audit System (EMAS) in Austria and will further be of vital interest.Measures can include saving functions at toilet cisternsfor instance or other water saving devices.
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“Development of educational programmes, advisory services, exchanges of best practices and large targeted campaigns of communication focused on water quantity issues”
Educational programmes, advisory services, exchange of best practices and targeted campaigns of communication are in place but targeted more widely going beyond water quantity issues. The careful and sustainable use of water is communicated combined in respect to questions regarding water quantity together with water quality issues. The communication of messages is carried out via the internet but also through media work for instance.
Our young Austrian citizens are the targeted audience which is of special interest for us. Through “Generation Blue”, which presents the communication platform for reaching the young generation, information and best practice examples for the sustainable use of water are communicated in an appropriate form (
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“Enhancement of research and technological activities in the area of water scarcity and droughts”
Due to the situation lined out under item 5, no enhancedfocus of researchin this respectis envisaged at the present.
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“Any other measure”
In a separate chapter of the River basin Management Plan,water is intended to be devoted to water scarcity and droughtsissues in order to raise further public awareness and to trigger off measures where appropriate.
Annex - List of measures on WS&D1/817.03.2008