The Water Framework Directive - aims and principles in a nutshell
Almost every article on water assessment sooner or later returns to three letters: WFD. The Water Framework Directive is the document that harmonised the way water is assessed and protected in the European Union. It is worth knowing its aims and principles, because all the other concepts stem from them.
The main aim
The WFD sets a simple, ambitious aim: waters are to reach at least good status (and modified waters - good potential), within set deadlines. It is accompanied by the principle of non-deterioration - the existing state must not be set back.
Key principles
- Management in river basin districts - waters are managed within catchment boundaries, not administrative ones.
- Water bodies as the unit - assessment, objectives and actions relate to JCWP.
- River basin management plans - updated in cycles (six-year), they contain the objectives and the programmes of measures.
- Environmental objectives and exemptions - when achieving an objective on time is impossible, justified exemptions (derogations) are allowed.
- Public participation and cost recovery - transparency and an economic approach to using water.
How status is assessed
The status of a water body is a composition of ecological status and chemical status - we describe this in the articles Classes and status of water quality and Ecological vs chemical status.
In practice
The WFD is the “map of concepts” to which most monitoring in Poland refers - including yours, if you want to compare your own results with the official assessments. How this monitoring is organised here, we write in the article Water monitoring in Poland (PMŚ). The measurements themselves are most conveniently kept organised - e.g. in LimnoLog, with guidelines related to the status classes.
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