Policy framework

III.3.1. The 7^th Environmental Action Programme

The EU’s 7^th Environmental Action Programme⁵¹ (EAP) for the period between 2014 and 2020 integrates water into the broader framework of environmental policy along the following priorities:

a) protecting, conserving and enhancing the Union’s natural capital;

b) turning the Union into a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy;

c) safeguarding the Union’s citizens from environment-related pressures and risks to health and well-being ((a)-(c) being the thematic priorities of environmental policy);

d) maximising the benefits of Union environment legislation by improving implementation;

e) improving the knowledge and evidence base for Union environment policy;

f) securing investment for environment and climate policy and address environmental externalities;

g) improving environmental integration and policy coherence;

h) enhancing the sustainability of the Union’s cities;

i) increasing the Union’s effectiveness in addressing international environmental and climate-related challenges.

51 Decision No 1386/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020 ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’.

The starting point of the 7^th EAP with regards water is that emissions into water and soil have been reduced significantly over the past decades. As a result, EU citizens enjoy a level of water quality that is among the best in the world. Yet, important challenges remain as water quality levels are still problematic in many parts of Europe. Also, the state of the aquatic environment and related terrestrial ecosystems is a cause of major concern such as unsustainable land use and the ensuing loss of soil⁵².

As regards the three thematic priorities the EAP sets the following targets:

a) in order to protect, conserve and enhance the Union’s natural capital the EU must ensure by 2020:

- the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services, including those relating to water, are halted, ecosystems and their services are maintained and at least 15 % of degraded ecosystems have been restored;

- the impact of pressures on transitional, coastal and fresh waters (including surface and groundwaters) is significantly reduced to achieve, maintain or enhance good status, as defined by the Water Framework Directive;

- the impact of pressures on marine waters is reduced to achieve or maintain good environmental status, as required by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and coastal zones are managed sustainably;

- land is managed sustainably in the Union, soil is adequately protected and the remediation of contaminated sites is well underway.

This requires among others

- the full implementation of the Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources and ensuring that water quality objectives are adequately supported by source-based policy measures;

- taking further steps to reduce emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus from urban and industrial wastewater and from fertiliser use, etc.

b) in order turn the Union into a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy the EU must ensure by 2020:

- the overall environmental impact of all major sectors of the Union economy is significantly reduced, resource efficiency has increased,

- structural changes in production, technology and innovation, as well as consumption patterns and lifestyles have reduced the overall environmental impact of production and consumption,

- water stress in the Union is prevented or significantly reduced.

52 Para. 3 and 6, EAP.

This requires among others

- improving water efficiency by setting and monitoring targets at river basin level on the basis of a common methodology for water efficiency targets to be developed under the Common Implementation Strategy process, and using market mechanisms, such as water pricing and other market measures,

- Developing approaches to manage the use of treated wastewater.

c) In order to safeguard the Union’s citizens from environment-related pressures and risks to health and well-being, the EU must ensure by 2020 that citizens throughout the Union benefit from high standards for safe drinking and bathing water.

This requires, among others, increasing efforts to implement the Water Framework Directive, the Bathing Water Directive and the Drinking Water Directive, in particular for small drinking water supplies.

III.3.2. The Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources

In 2012 the European Commission issued a stand-alone water policy document entitled “A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources”⁵³ (the Blueprint). The motivation behind this unique political exercise was that already a decade had passed since the adoption of the Water Framework Directive. Given, however, that the real implementation of the programmes of measures foreseen by the WFD had only begun, it was premature to subject the directive to a full review. Instead, in order to influence the ongoing implementation cycle as well as to fill the policy gaps of the WFD the Blueprint has been drawn up with a view to proposing further measures during the first cycle of the WFD. The Blueprint also made critical linkages to other policy fields such as land use (agriculture, forestry), chemicals management, efficiency of water use by industry, households, etc.

The Blueprint identified 18 objectives and proposed concomitant measures with regards to:

- water pricing and metering, - water use reduction in agriculture,

- reduction of illegal abstraction/impoundments, - awareness of water consumption,

- maximisation of the use of natural water retention measures, - efficient water appliances in buildings,

- reduction of leakages,

- maximisation of water reuse, - improvement of governance, - implementation of water accounts, - implementation of ecological flow, - application of target setting,

- reduction of flood risk, - reduction of drought risk,

- better calculation of costs and benefits,

53 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources, COM (2012) 0673 final.

- better knowledge base,

- support to developing countries⁵⁴. III.3.3. Other policy documents

Over the past decade or so the European Commission has issued a number of additional policy document that concern directly or indirectly water management. The EU’s water scarcity and droughts communication⁵⁵ came out in 2007 in response to the devastating droughts of the decade in the Iberian Peninsula.

Another set of sectoral strategies tackle water management issues only indirectly. These include:

- Climate adaptation strategy⁵⁶; - Marine Strategy⁵⁷;

- Resource Efficiency Roadmap⁵⁸; - Biodiversity Strategy⁵⁹ etc.

III.4. INSTITUTIONS OF WATER GOVERNANCE