16Th Meeting of WG C Groundwater , Prague, 28/04/2009

16th Meeting of WG C ‘Groundwater’, Prague, 28/04/2009

/ EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate D–Water & Environmental Programmes
ENV.D.2 – Water and Marine /

16thOctober 2009

SixteenthMeeting of the Working Group C Groundwater
for the WFD Common Implementation Strategy
28April 2009from 09:00 to 17:00
Ministry of Agriculture, Prague, Czech Republic

Draft Minutes

The Commission, DG Environment D.2 (hereafterreferred as COM) invitedmembers of Working Group C Groundwater (WG C)to the 16thmeeting of the Working Group in Prague held under the umbrella of the EU Czech Presidency. This meeting was held back-to-back with the drafting group meeting WGC-3 (27thApril).

The meeting aimed to exchange experiences about implementation issues related to the Groundwater Directive 2006/118/EC linked to activities carried out under the WG C work programme for the period 2007–2009. This meeting is the sixteenth of the series of workshops aimed at sharing information and knowledge on groundwater issues within the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive

Chair:Johannes Grath (JG), Umweltbundesamt, Austria

Co-Chair:Balázs Horváth(BH), COM

Participants:A full list of meeting participants is provided in Annex 2.

Agenda: The agenda for this meeting is attached in Annex 3

Access to presentations:All documents are available for download at CIRCA.

The meeting was structured into 4 sessions:

(1)Risk assessment

(2)Other WG C activities-related implementation

(3)Science

(4)Next steps

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome by both CZ Water Directors,Veronica Jáglová(Water Director of the Ministry of Environment) and Pavel Punčochář (Water Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, General Director of Water Management Section). In Czech Republic water responsibility is shared between MoE and MoA which is the reason for two WDs. MoE is responsible of water within the EU Czech Presidency.The importance of water in CZ and the publicly accessible national Water Information System was highlighted. It started in early 2000 after the extreme flood events.Both wished the participants a successful and fruitful meeting.

Introductory Remarks–Johannes Grath

JG warmly thanked for the organisation and the dinner offered by the CZ Presidency on the 27 April. A slightly revised agenda was distributed.No amendments for the last minutes and also no amendments/comments of the current agenda were raised.

Information on EU Water Conference - Balázs Horváth

BH informed about the European Water Conference 2009 which happened in 2–3 April 2009 in Brussels. He presented some preliminary result on the state of RBMP publication, on the use of exemptions in draft RBMPs and thepartly missing justification for that, on the consideration of climate change in the plans and the expectations of the COM.BH emphasized the necessary cooperation between and the active participation of the stakeholders in order to the transparent decision making and the importance of the high level of ambition of RBMPs combined with financing instruments in order to reach the aims of the WFD. (

COM Report on WFD monitoring programmes - Balázs Horváth

BH gave a summary on the COM report on WFD monitoring programmes, which was published recently. The overview is available on CIRCA. The legal basis of this report is Article 18.3 WFD. The COM report consists of 6pages + COM Staff Working Document (50 pages) + Annex (180 pages). 26 MS reported (24 via WISE). The Annexes provide a comprehensive overview of monitoring per MemberState. Gaps detected are: reporting needs to be improved. Conclusions on GW: the reporting was more general compared to surface water and the implementation of WFD monitoring is still not completed in several Member States.The report is available for download from theeuropa.euwebsite

Additional remarks

BH also referred to the Guidance document No. 18on Status and TrendsAssessmentwhich is available for download as well as GroundwaterBrochure in 19 different languages.BH warmly thanked all who translated the brochure and especially Philippe Quevauviller for the initiation and the coordination of this task.

Session 1 – Risk Assessment

Current state of WGC-3 Activity Risk Assessment - Outline on risk assessment – Dietmar Müller

DM gave a brief summary of what happened so far and the planned activities. This summary is available on CIRCA. It was planned to hold 4 drafting group meetings in 2009. The 2nd meeting happened on 27th April, the day before this WGC meeting. Focus in 2009 is put on risk assessment and conceptual models. In 2010 the focus will be on risk management. The main aim is not to re-invent what has already been elaborated and laid down in several different guidance documents.

DM presented the conclusions on general considerationswhich were taken yesterday in the drafting group meeting.

Outline on conceptual models – Thomas Track

TT summarized the current state of the work which can be found on CIRCA. He also presented the next steps in the process:

Schedule for next steps in WGC-3 in 2009

-29th May: contributions to draft chapters

-15th June: distribution of draft document

-29–30th June: drafting group meeting in Frankfurt (RA/CM)

-4th/30th September: distribution of final draft document

-14th October: drafting group meeting in Stockholm (Back-to-back with WG C)

JG thanked the drafting group leaders for their efforts and the progress made so far. Moreover he stressed that the presented timetable is very important since it is the clear objective to finalize the activity this year. That means that the final draft version should be agreed upon by WG C at the plenary meeting in Stockholm, so that the document can be forwarded to the SCG for endorsement in due time.

Session 2 - OTHER WG C ACTIVITIES-RELATED IMPLEMENTATION

Threshold values – inventory by EC – Andreas Scheidleder

AS gave a brief overview of some early results of the MS answers to the questionnaireon groundwater threshold values initiated by COM. For about 190 substances/parameters GW threshold values were reported from in total 21 Member States. The overview is available on CIRCA and contains ranges of threshold values for a considerable list of substances. This data collection forms the basis for the COM to prepare a report on TVs by the end of 2009 as it is required by Article 3.7 GWD.

Note: Corrections were delivered from one MS immediately after the meeting, the presentation which was held at the meeting was adapted accordingly afterwards and the presentation on CIRCA represents the updated presentation.

Questions/Comments:

-It was proposedby EC to upload the MS responses concerning TVs on the restricted area of CIRCA. It was asked whether MS consider this helpful for the preparation of the final RBMPs or have objections against uploading. After brief discussion it was concluded that Members of WG C should send commentsto BHwithin the next 2 weeks (until 15th May 2009). Silence will be considered as agreement to uploading the data. WG C members were suggestedto contact their SCG representatives with regard to this issue.

Activities of SSG (Strategic Steering Group) on WFD and Agriculture – Andrea Nam

AN gave an introduction to the activities of the SSG (which started in 2005) along the work programme 2009. Currently the detailed work programme and the mandate are elaborated.Relevant legislation is CAP-Health check, WFD, Water scarcity and droughts and climate change (CC).Access to the products of SSG is available via CIRCA. Seven main activities are followed in 2009 (see slides on CIRCA) with several connections to the WFD.

The new mandate for 2010–2012 addresses in addition CAP beyond 2013 and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. An overview of the future tasks was given. It was mentioned that the issue of cross compliance has to be increased in reference to land use and water.

A study on alternative water supply is available on the scarcity web site.

Questions/Comments:

-John Chilton (IAH): what evidence do you use for the cost effectiveness of measures? How is the slow response time considered? ANresponded that this was identified but not elaborated in to detail.Input on that issue would be highly welcome.

-JG requested whether a list of available and prepared documents could be provided? AN responded that reports on Rural development assessment and the effectiveness of measuresare available but all other topics are still under preparation. In case of questions please go in direct contact with AN. Early next year, most of these reports should be available. AN clarified that it is too early now for distributing draft versions.

JG: How should we proceed with landuse and groundwater? Lots of the activities of the SSG are relevant and it should be avoided to duplicate work.Should we wait for the reports which are available next year?

-Wilko Verweij (NL) mentioned that he had no idea about the activity of this group and no idea who is the NL representative in the group. He is in favor of waiting until the reports are available. AN offered her help finding the national contacts.

-It was the impression that many participants were also in favor of waiting for the reports. JG proposed to have a technical workshop on this topic. AN clarified that SSG is only focusing on agriculture and WGC needs to focus also on other types of land use.

Finally it was concluded that under the proposed Activity 1 “Exchange of information supporting the preparation of the next RBMP”of the draft mandate for 2010–2012 different landuse activities and the respective measures could be discussed, considering also the outcome of the SSG.

WG C Mandate 2010–2012 – Johannes Grath

JG outlined the topics which could be subject of the forthcoming work in the next working period from 2010 to 2012 and could form the mandate of WG C. Five activities were proposed:see Annex 4 (updated mandate)

-Activity 1: Exchange of information supporting the preparation of the next RBMP.

-Activity 2: Input to the review of the GWD in 2013.

-Activity 3: CC effects on GW. Next RBMPs need to be CC proofed.

-Activity 4: Risk management and implementation of measures.

-Activity 5: Soil functions regarding CM of GWBs and pressures.

Questions/Comments

General remarks

-NL expressed concern that mandate seems very ambitious. It should be considered whether the mandate describes the scope of the work or also the expected output. GW experts are quite heavily involved in the implementation of the WFD and staff resources are under considerable pressure at least in NL. The work should be focused and it should be made clear that resources are available.

-FR proposed to put the priorities on activity 2 and then activity 3 and 1. Activities 4 and 5 could be merged, which was also supported by ES.

-UKsupported the comments from FR and NL (limited resources). Running more than 2 drafting groups at a time is difficult. Agrees to importance of activities 1-3. Before any group starts the output should be much more clarified.

-UK also commented that activity 5 seems less important due to the current parallel activities.

Activity 1

-FRproposed the consideration of the Article 6 GWD transposition. This comprises the list of substances which were established as hazardous and non-hazardous and the way these substances are identified by MS. This topic could be included under activity 1. This proposal was also agreed by Mario Carere (CMA)

-UK will provide written comments on activity 1. The focus regarding Article 6 should be rather put on the compliance perspective.

-CZ faces new challenges of meeting its energy consumption by new technologies where it faces new challenges of e.g. temperature increase.

Activity 2

-Mario Carere (CMA) proposed to describe activity 2 more clearly and detailed and also link it to activity 1.

Activity 3

-PhQagrees that the mandate is very ambitious. It should be first clarified whether GW will be considered in the CC-adaptation group and if yes, clarify what could be the perspective to be considered in WGC. BH responded that the next meeting of the SSG ‘CC and Water’ is held on the 29th April 2009where the future work will be discussed. The lead on chapter 4 ‘CC and WFD’ is at UK and FR. The chapter of measures is led by the EEA.The first draftsof these chapters are available. The current draft shows that GW is not that emphasized. At the moment the chapters are quite general. There is currently a lack of practical examples.

-JG will include in the mandate that activity3 on CC should be linked to this SSG and the work be based on the outcome of this group

-FR proposed that within activity 3it should be discussed, how far MS have to go when considering CC because the topic is quite broad. BH mentioned the policy paper on climate change and water which was endorsed by the Water Directors where it is laid down how far MS need to go.

-IAH (John Chilton) proposed to consider for extreme climate events (heavy rainfall) the impact on the microbiological quality of groundwater (e.g. for karstic springs) as a very important issue.

JG informed that the mandatewill be revised according to the discussion and distributed in 2 weeks (and written comments are expected within 3 weeks after distribution.WGC members were asked to indicate also the priorities of activities and the expected outputs as well as all other topics which should be highlighted. Moreover, interest for active contribution or leading of drafting groups should be reported as well. The draft mandate will be circulated to WG C for comments in several loops before the next meeting, so that the mandate can be agreed upon in the next WG C plenary meeting and finally forwarded to the SCG for approval.

Structure of CIS Working Groups

BH informed about the current initiatives on making the WFD Common Implementation Strategy structure more transparent and this may also affect WGC. He invites to get in contact with the respective SCG representative and Water Director to communicate any structural comments.

Session 3 -Science

Genesis – Björn Klöve

BK informed about the GENESIS research project which started this year and will last for 5 years. He presented the objectives and the overall structure of the project (partners, work packages) which can be found on CIRCA. The single work packages were briefly describedand the future steps as well as the next meetings.A website will be available soon:

Questions/Comments:

-DE would have expected some information on groundwater ecosystems which seems not to be tackled by the project. BK responded that pollutant attenuation will be tackled but there is no explicit focus on GW ecosystems itself.

-UK asked whether impacts by pollutants on GWDTE will be dealt with in GENESIS.

-BH added that some members of WG C are part of the advisory board and the board intends to represent WGC. It is also foreseen to regularly get reported from the project and to give feedback from WGC. It was also highlighted that although the project runs 5 years, resultsfor the revision of the GWD are needed by the end of 2011.

Climate change impacts on groundwater including natural hazards – Anticipating research needs in the light of RBM developments – Philippe Quevauviller

PhQ gave a brief introduction on the field of CC and its context to the RBMPs. He furtherhighlightedthat the RBMPs should enable to tackle CC. He gave an overview of the scientific opportunities within FP7 (2007-2013). For the years 2011 to 2013 there is the possibility to bring forward ideas which could contribute to this research area.PhQ also emphasized that input from the group is highly appreciated in order to focus research.The CIS-SciencePolicyInterface (SPI)-Initiative is being re-strengthened again and a key in the process is the dissemination, communication and training.

PhQ gave a brief overview of existing scientific projects and highlighted the WATCH project (Water and Global Change) which looks at the global water cycle. There are very interesting results available which need to be brought to the decision makers. The science policy communication interface is a crucial element as well.

PhQ provided a brief overview of the CIS–SPI (Science Policy Interface) for which a pilot phase has been initiated by FR as proposed to the Water Directors under the FR Presidency meeting. It is the objective to identify specific themes with the aim to provide a state of the art of existing knowledge, to identify related knowledge gaps and research needs and ensure inclusion in research agendas and to ensure diffusion/relay to relevant users at the appropriate level(s).

Research topics – Johannes Grath

WG leaders were approached by ONEMA which is assigned to lead the SPI-activity. WG leaders were requested to provide topics regarded as relevant for research and scientific support.In respect to the research needs from WG C perspective JG presented a proposal of research topics – see presentation on CIRCA. WGC feedback is needed whether this proposal could be forwarded to the ONEMA.

Questions/Comments

-FR proposed to include river beds and unsaturated zones and microorganisms.

-PT proposed to include effects on groundwater due to energy production.

The amended list in respect to the comments made will be sent it to the CIS-SPI group. The updated listis attached as Annex 1.

RISKBASE – Dietmar Müller

DM gave brief overview on riskbase ( which will terminate this year. It is a coordination action and not a science project. It should develop an integrated risk-based management approach of the water-sediment-soil system at river-basin scale. Main deliverables will be a book and brochures. A series of workshops will happen this year, e.g. 25/26 June in Venice.

Groundwater Body Layer- Hana Prchalova

HP as representative of ETC-WTR of the European Environment Agency (EEA)informed about the current state of the visualization of GWBs. 12 MS responded to the questionnaire which was distributed mid February 2009. Next steps will be a request to the remaining MS for using the officially reported data. A draft map including the uppermost GWB layer will be prepared until the end of 2009, a final map is intended to be available in 2010.

Session 4 - Next Steps

Next WGC meeting - Announcement by Sweden– Magnus Asman

MA invited the WG C to meet in Stockholm under the auspicesof the EU Swedish Presidency on the 15thOctober 2009 DG meeting (WGC-3 will meet on the 14th October 2009). Further details will be sent out. Preliminary information will be distributed before summer.

Conclusions

Outlook – Activities

–Until week 20: WG C members are asked for comments whetherto upload the replies on the questionnaire on groundwater TVsto CIRCA (restricted area) – email to be sent to Balazs Horvath (COM). No answer is regarded as agreement. MS were kindly asked communicate this topic alsoto the representatives inthe SCG (next meeting is scheduled in week 19).

–Until week 20: Draft mandate will be revised and distributed to WG C respectively uploaded on CIRCA.Comments are expected within 3 weeks thereafter. Please also reply about willingness in contributing actively in the drafting process