Common Strategy on the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive

CSI - WFD - WG 2.9 - RBMP / Questionnaire

Common Strategy on the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive

Project 2.9

Guidance on Best Practices in

River Basin Management Planning

Work Package 1

Guidance on the Identification of River Basin Districts

QUESTIONNAIRE

9 September October 2001

Guidance on the Identification of River Basin Districts

1. Background

The basic requirements for the identification of river basin districts and the relevant administrative arrangements are established in Articles 3 and 24 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) as follows:

• River basins and river basin districts:

" Member States shall identify the individual river basins lying within their national territory and [ ... ] shall assign them to individual river basin districts. Small river basins may be combined with larger river basins or joined with neighbouring small basins to form individual river basin districts where appropriate."

• Groundwaters:

"Where groundwaters do not fully follow a particular river basin, they shall be identified and assigned to the nearest or most appropriate river basin district."

• Coastal waters:

"Coastal waters shall be identified and assigned to the nearest or most appropriate river basin district or districts."

• Administrative arrangements:

"Member States shall ensure the appropriate administrative arrangements, including the identification of the appropriate competent authority [ ... ] within each river basin district lying in its territory."

• International river basins:

"Member States shall ensure that a river basin covering the territory of more than one Member State is assigned to an international river basin district. [ ... ] Each Member State shall ensure the appropriate administrative arrangements, including the identification of the appropriate competent authority [ ... ] within the portion of river basin district lying in its territory."

• Arrangements for coordination:

"Member States shall ensure that the requirements [ ... ] for the achievement of the environmental objectives [ ... ] and, in particular, all programmes of measures are coordinated for the whole river basin district. For international river basin districts the Member States concerned shall together ensure this coordination [ ... ].

• Deadline:

"Member States shall identify the competent authority by [...] 22 December 2003."

1. Approach

As discussed at the First Meeting of WG 2.9, it appears to be rather difficult to establish a clear overall guidance on the identification of river basin districts as this issue is undoubtedly athe responsibility of the Member States.

Moreover, the identification of river basin districts is expected to involve a number of political issues and, as a consequence, the establishment of river basin district boundaries is likely to require a great deal of flexibility.

At the same time, it is understood that most countries have already undertaken this issue or have partial achievements in the matter.

Therefore, the following approach was adopted for this Work package 1:

-Collect information on the experiences of the different countries.

-Limit the guidance on identification to technical aspects.

-Address specific issues, such as groundwater, coastal water, islands, wetlands, international river basins,international river basins, etc.

-Establish minimum requirements.

Accordingly, the outcome of Work package 1 will be a report on the technical aspects of the identification of river basin districts. The report will present the experiences and approaches available in the Member States through a limited number, say 5 to 6, typical cases and focus on the above-mentioned specific issues.

1. Preliminary considerations

The hydrographical concept of a river basin, as defined in Article 2 of the WFD, is clear: "the area of land from which all surface run-off flows through a sequence of streams and, possibly, lakes into the sea at a single river mouth, estuary or delta".

As far as the identification of river basin districts is concerned, however, the following preliminary technical considerations can be made:

• Dimensions of the river basin districts:

If a river basin is sufficiently large and adjacent to other similarly large river basins of similar characteristics, it will is likely to be designated as a stand-alone, individual river basin district, even when there may exist different climatic, environmental or socio-economic conditions within its own catchment area. The principles of natural unity of the hydrologic cycle and integrated water management do justify this approach.

In case of small river basins, adjacent to larger ones, or of several neighbouring small basins, it will be advisable to combine or join them, respectively, to form river basin districts provided that their geographical size and functional characteristics do not hinder the development of an efficient water management.

Therefore, it seems advisable to intend to:

-combine or join river basins with homogeneous similar climatic, environmental and socio-economic conditions to form one individual river basin district;

-establish, wherever possible, establish river basin district boundaries so as to make them coincide with administrative territorial boundaries (municipality, province, region, autonomous territory, etc.) in order to facilitate the relationship between the river basin authority and the other competent authorities, especially in matters related to territorial management;

-incorporate entire aquifers within the boundaries of the river basin district.

• Assignment of aquifers to river basin districts:

It is likely that the assignment of aquifers to a river basin district will pose a problem only in case of relatively important or extensive aquifers when these are shared by two or more river basin districts. As said, river basin districts should be delimitated so that they cover entire smaller groundwater systems.

When it is impossible to assign a groundwater managementgroundwater system to one river basin district, it is suggested to establish a coordination between the district authorities concerned to undertake a common aquifer management. The respective district authorities will have to establish the appropriate instruments and agreements to carry out the common task.

As for small groundwater systems shared by two or more river basin districts, it seems appropriate to allocate them to the river basin district that covers a greater surface area of the aquifer, except where other technically sound and reasonable criteria regarding recharge areas, water utilisation, etc. could indicate a different approach.

• Coastal waters:

It is no doubt that the extension of river basin districts to coastal waters, as required in Article 3, of the WFD is the consequence of the effect of freshwater flows discharged from a river basin to the coastal aquatic environment. The importance of this effect and the protection of neighbouring coastal waters will certainly determine whether or not the strict limits defined by perpendicular lines traced at the continental boundaries of the river basin district should be exceeded.

In the first place, it seems reasonable to maintain the above-mentioned theoretical boundaries even when river pollution plumes driven by coastal currents and wind could affect neighbouring river basin districts and resolve situations that may arise by means of coordinated management between the river basin districts concerned. Exceptionally, the river basin district boundaries could be extended beyond these theoretical lines; in these cases, appropriate administrative arrangements with the relevant competent authorities in coastal management will have to be put in place to establish the new boundaries.

1. ObjectiveObjective

Based upon the above approach and considerations, this Questionnaire is intended to collect information on the experiences, approaches and achievements of the different Member States in the field of the identification of river basins and potential river basin districts.

The questionnaire is organised into two parts: the first part aims to collect information for a general overview on the identification of river basins and potential river basin districts in the different countries with regard to the WFD while the second part refers to individual river basins or potential river basin districts to be selected as "typical examples" for the guidance report, and this, on the basis of their characteristics and the specific issues encountered.

1. Deadline

As agreed at the First Meeting of WG 2.9, the time available for completing the questionnaire is approximately 1 month. Accordingly, Member States are kindly requested to return the completed questionnaires in electronic format to the drafting group (Attn. Mr. José María Piñero, Team leader, Bvd. du Regent 52, Brussels, Belgium, e-mail, and Mr. Zsigmond Kovács, Aquatec, S.A., C/Mallorca, 270, 08037 Barcelona, Spain, e-mail: , tel.: +34 93 488 04 58, fax: +34 93 215 43 49) by 15 November 2001. Earlier responses would be welcome.

Questionnaire

Details of the person completing the questionnaire:

Name:
Country:
Organisation:
Full postal address:
E-mail:
Phone: / Fax:

Part I:General overview of the identification of river basin districts in the Member States

1. / Does river basin water management at the river basin level, as defined in the WFD, have any precedent in your
precedent in your country? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If not, please provide a brief outline on the water management system practised in
your country (insert more lines, if necessary):
2. / If water management is carried out at the river basin level in your country at present,
do you estimate the existing river basin or river basin district structures will be used
with no or only minor changes for the purposes of the WFD? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
3. / How many individual river basins (as defined in Article 2 of the WFD) are there approximately in your country?
approximately in your country? Please indicate only the number of relatively
significant basins, say larger than 50-100 km2.
4. / From these, how many do you estimate will be or are proposed to be designated as
stand-alone river basin districts?
Please list them and their main characteristics (insert more lines, if necessary) :
River basin / Surface area
(km2) / Total population
5. / Are their any precedents of combining smaller river basins to larger ones or joining smaller river
neighbouring smaller river basins to larger ones into what the WFD defines as a river basin district in your
in your country? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If yes, please list them and their main characteristics (insert more lines, if necessary):
RPotential river basin district / Number of river basins combined (approx.) / Surface area
(km2) / Total population
6. / Has your government or an organisation of your government already made any
formal or informal proposal regarding the number of river basin districts to establish
in your country? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If yes, how many river basin districts have been proposed altogether in your
country?
7. / If not, Hhow many river basin districts do you estimate there will be or are likely to be proposed altogether in your to be
country?altogether in your country?
Please list them and their main characteristics (insert more lines, if necessary) :
Potential Rriver basin districts / Number of river basins combined (approx.) / Total surface area (km2) / Total population
7. / How many international or cross-border river basins or river basin districts are there
in your country?
Please list them and their main characteristics (insert more lines, if necessary) :
River basin / Other countries involved / Surface area (km2) / Population
Total / In your country / Total / In your country
8. / Are there any international coordination arrangements available in these river
basins? / Yes / No
If yes, please provide a list and a short explanation on their extent:
910. / Are there any significant groundwater systems (aquifers) shared by two or more
river basins or river basin districts and assigned to one them? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
11. / If yes, please provide a short explanation on the criteria adopted:
12. / If not, what kind of administrative arrangements are there available, if any, to tackle
conflicts?
1013.. / Are coastal waters assigned to continental river basins in your country at present?
present?Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If yes, please explain how boundaries were delimitated and the approaches
adopted, especially those aimed to tackle conflicts with neighbouring river basins.
If yes, what is the seaward extent of the the assigned coastal waters (km).
1411.. / Which is (are) the principal authority or authorities responsible for managing water
resources and the water environment in your country on the national level? In case
of several authorities, indicate the relevant responsibilities:
Authority / Type (e.g. national, regional, provincial) / Responsibility
15.12. / Are there any decentralised competent authorities on the river basin or river basin
district level in your country? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If not, please explain indicate the administrative arrangements, and their territorial
distributionstructure and responsibility as well as their institutional and legal capacity to regulate .
and enforce compliance.

• Administrative arrangement:

• Territorial structure:

16. /

• Responsibility:Which other competent authorities, if any, share the responsibility of water

• Institutional and legal capacity:

13. / Which other competent authorities, if any, share the responsibility of water
management with the above-mentioned authorities and in which particular
aspects (e.g. groundwaters, coastal waters, etc.)? Please indicate the authorities
and their responsibilities.
Authority / Type (e.g. national, regional, provincial) / Responsibility
17.14. / Does your country have any precedent in river basin management planning (i.e.
water management planning at the entire river basin level)? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If yes, please explain briefly the approach adopted.
If not, please explain what kind of other water management planning approaches
were adopted.
Type of management plans / Level (e.g. regional, provincial, catchment) / Responsible authorities

If possible, please attach appropriate (preferably DIN-A-4 or DIN-A-3 size) country-wide digitised maps showing river basins, existing potential and/or proposed river basin district structures and regional boundaries of competent authorities if different from the river basin structure. Listings and/or tables with relevant information on the above questions would also be welcome (preferably asas Word or Excel files).

Part II:Information on individual river basins and/or potential river basin districts

Please provide the following information on a maximum of 3 individual river basins and/or potential river basin districts (i.e. proposed combinations of individual river basins into one larger unit) of your country that are felt to be "typical" and representative from the point of view of the identification of river basin districts in accordance with Article 3 of the WFD. In order to obtain a clear picture on the identification approaches adopted in the different Member States, it is recommended to present examples where the problems and solutions of the so-called specific issues (groundwaters, coastal waters, special institutional arrangements, International agreements, etc.) can be readily demonstrated.

Please provide the following information on max. 3 individual river basins and/or river basin districts (i.e. the combination of individual river basins into one larger unit) of your country that are felt to be "typical" and representative from the point of view of the identification of river basin districts in accordance with Article 3 of the WFD. In order to obtain a clear picture on the identification approaches adopted in the different Member States, it is recommended to present examples with different river basin sizes as well as different climatologic and socio-economic conditions and, wherever possible, to include both larger stand-alone river basins and smaller basins combined into a larger river basin district. It is also recommended to select basins where the so-called specific issues (groundwaters, coastal waters, etc.) can be readily demonstrated.

Basic data:
1. / Name:
2. / Type:
23. / Surface area (km2):
43. / % of surface area of the country:
45. / Total population:
56. / Average annual precipitation (mm):
67. / Average annual evapotranspiration (mm):
78. / Water resources in the basin (hm3/year):

• Surface water (hm3/year):

• Groundwater (hm3/year):

89. / Total water demand in the basin (hm3/year):

• Domestic (hm3/year):

• Industrial (hm3/year):

• Irrigation (hm3/year):

• Hydro power (hm3/year):

• Other (hm3/year):

910. / Administrative territorial units available within the boundaries of the river basin or:
potential river basin district:

• Number of regions (or similar):

• Number of provinces (or similar):

• Number of municipalities:

River basin structure:
11. / If this is an individual river basin, has it been or is it likely to be designated as a
stand-alone river basin district for the purposes of the WFD? / Yes / No
120. / Isf this is a potential river basin district consisting of the combination of several individual river basin districts?
individual river basins, please list the individual river basins (or the relatively Please mark with an x.
Yes
No
significantIf yes,please list the individual river basins (or the principal ones, sayones) and indicate
larger than 50-100 km2 ) and indicate their main characteristics (insert more lines, if necessary):
(insert more lines, if necessary):
River basin / Surface area
(km2) / Annual precipitation (mm) / Population
11. / Total number of individual river basins combined, if any:
133. / Please indicate whether boundary corrections, combination into another river basin
district, combination of other smaller catchmentsareas into this river basin, etc. are likely
to be proposed in carrying out the identification of river basin districts. If yes, please
explain the changes and provide information on their extent. Please insert more
lines, if necessary.
144. / Are there any significant groundwater systems shared with other neighbouring river
basins? If yes, please list them and their main characteristics (insert more lines, if
necessary):
Aquifer / Surface area (km2) / Volume (hm3 or %))
Inside / Outside / Inside / Outside
155. / Are some of these aquifers assigned to one of the river basin districts?
districts?Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If yes, please indicate the criteria adopted.
If not, please indicate whether there are any coordination arrangements between the
river basin districts concerned.
166. / Are there any coastal waters assigned to this river basin at the moment?
moment?Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If yes, please indicate the seaward extent and the delimitation criteria adopted.
17. / Is this river basin a cross-border river basin or part of an international river
basin? / Yes / No
If yes, please indicate the main characteristics, such as:
Other countries involved:
Surface area (km2):
% of the total surface area:
Population:
% of the total population:
If yes, explain what kind of international coordination arrangements are there
available,if any:
Institutional arrangements:
18. / Is water management carried out at the river basin level?Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If not, please indicate the competent authorities and their responsibilities and
their territorial distribution:
Authority / Type (e.g. regional, provincial) / Responsibility
199. / Do the boundaries of the river basin coincide with those of an administrative unit or
administrative units? Please mark with an x. / Yes / No
If yes, please indicate their names.
2020. / If water management is the responsibility of one single authority at the river basin or
river basin district level, please provide the following information:
Name:
Year of creation:
Responsibilities:
211. / Please list other competent authorities in water management and indicate the issues
they are responsible for:
Authority / Type (e.g. regional, provincial) / Responsibility
22. / Is there any river basin plan (i.e. a water management plan for the entire river basin Please mark with an x.
Yes
No
or potential river basin district) available? / Yes / No
If yes, please provide a brief description including year of completion and details of
the planning process.
If not, please indicate which other water management planning approaches were
adopted.
Type of management plans / Level (e.g. regional, provincial, catchment) / Responsible authorities
23. / How many potential river basin districts have a similar configuration
and characteristics to this one in your country?
Could you indicate their names?

Please attach appropriate 1.500,000 basin maps showing main geographical and hydrographical elements and administrative boundaries. Listings and/or tables with relevant information on the above questions would also be welcome (preferably as Word or Excel files).