Water UK

Slow crawl to a better water environment

09/05/07

One of the reasons EU citizens give for indifference (or worse) towards the Union is the incomprehensible process it has to follow to get workable law on to the statute books of member states. The massive WFD surely bears this out. We’re told that as “enabling” legislation it’s more politically acceptable than earlier “prescriptive” laws. Perhaps so, but arguably it’s still complex enough for ordinary people looking into it to lose not only interest but the will to live.

This is why a question like “How are we getting on with implementing the WFD?” is so hard to answer. It depends on your perspective. In March the EC gave a Europe-wide answer in a “communication” about progress* based on summary reports from member states.

The EC document is the first of a series and deals with three things: transposition of the WFD into national legislation; setting up administrative arrangements, including identifying “competent authorities” and river basin districts; and “characterising” (i.e. assessing status) water bodies and carrying out an economic analysis of water use. The results are mixed; in fact member states divide in the same way as my local leisure centre provides lanes for swimmers – they can be sprinters, joggers or plodders.

Mixed results

On the transposition test the new member states did rather better than the original members (including the UK) against whom legal proceedings were begun. And although most cases have been headed off, the overall picture is certainly gloomy. Nineteen member states “appear to have major shortcomings” and only three (Austria, Malta and Portugal) have “an overall satisfactory transposition”.

The complexity of the WFD and (to be fair) its value emerges from the report on defining river basin districts. The two are linked by the obvious need for good cooperation. There are 110 districts. But because many cross national boundaries, the number grows to 170 national or national parts. Here the performance picture is better. The UK falls into a middle rank with Italy bottom of the class on key indicators with its grouping of river basins called “illogical”.

The overview of characterisation is a summary of the environmental issues facing governments (and those toilers mentioned at the start of this article). In the UK more than 70% of surface waters are reported at risk of failing WFD objectives – only the Netherlands has more. Progress with economic analysis shows the worst results across the Union; the UK at least answered all questions, but Greece and Italy were awarded nul points. This category includes the important area of “cost recovery” or arranging for the price charged for water to cover the full cost of the service it provides (i.e. including environmental cost).

Blizzard

It’s probably fair to say that this unimpressive performance is not for want of trying and the effort will pay off in time. At EU level a Common Implementation Strategy has produced a blizzard of guidance papers, pilot reports, leaflets and newsletters. The Water Information System for Europe (WISE) – a huge electronic data-sharing exercise – is being developed to facilitate best practice. The need for better analysis of the costs and benefits is increasingly recognised; the UK, France and the Netherlands are mentioned in despatches for their work in this area.

How to summarise progress at national level? Water UK has many concerns; for example about slow progress in implementing the ‘polluter pays’ principle, in reducing diffuse pollution from farming and urban sources, and in finding ways to recover water service costs (water company customers should pay no more than fair shares if we want the most cost-effective outcome).

Again, a lot of effort is being made – by water companies, the Environment Agency and some hard-working officials, all supported by green groups. Unfortunately many other sectors seem only too happy to be plodders. The question is whether swimming pool management has the political will to turn them into joggers or sprinters.

* Towards sustainable water management in the European Union COM(2007) 128, SEC (2007) 363