Water and land

Stjórnun mengaðra svæða er ferli sem hefur mismunandi hraða í aðildarríkjunum. Þetta stafar að hluta til vegna munar á löggjöf sem myndi þýða mismunandi skilgreiningar á því að gera sum dæmi „mögulega mengað svæði“, „mengað svæði“, „uppbótarsvæði“. Af þessum sökum hóf framkvæmdastjórn Evrópusambandsins og JRC frumkvæði með EEA-EIONET netkerfinu til að finna sameiginlegar skilgreiningar og könnun í MS árið 2018 (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/statuslocal-soil-contamination -europe-revision-indicator-progress-management-contaminated-sites) sem leiddi til þess að 6 staðsetningar voru skilgreindar.

Groundwater is and remains a valuable resource for the environment and different human activities. Environmental and anthropogenic pressures on this resource include amongst others: climate change (drought, flooding, etc.), (over)abstraction and pollution (point source and diffuse). Water reuse, water buffering and infiltration are some of the possible measures to diminish our requirement for fresh groundwater as well as replenish its storage. Nonetheless groundwater drilling and abstraction will remain necessary for different purposes. Groundwater shortage is no longer an exclusive problem for arid or Mediterranean countries. Recent prolonged drought periods have repeatedly made clear that groundwater supplies have to be carefully managed (abstraction as well as recharge) in all member states and countries in Europe.

For many years, several research bodies have worked on monitoring cetaceans using large vessels and ferries as platform of observations. The two main European networks are the FLT MED NETwork led by ISPRA and the Atlantic Network led by ORCA (which publishes yearly the “state of European cetacean”). The networks are expanding also for the southern countries of the Mediterranean Region (such as Tunisia and Morocco). There is a strong need for all the team leaders of the different research bodies to meet and strengthen the collaboration, the best practices, and the improvement of the common research and shared monitoring protocol as well as expanding the survey coverage.

Art. 4 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) obliges Member States, among other things, to protect, enhance and restore all bodies of groundwater with the aim of achieving good groundwater status by December 2015, and to implement the measures necessary to reverse any significant and sustained upward trend in the concentration of pollutants. In actual fact, however, 25 % of ground water bodies in the EU (and e.g. 36 % in Germany) were chemically in a poor status in 2015, mostly due to pollution with nitrates and pesticides from agriculture. Moreover, according to an EEA report of 2018, the total groundwater body area with an identified upward trend of pollution is still nearly double the area with a trend reversal (9.9 % against 5.9 % of area).

The project (SWETE-Safeguarding the Water Environment Throughout Europe, phases I-V) seeks to build a common understanding of our regulatory approaches, build networks of experts and develop shared resources to enhance technical resilience, into the water environment arena (and specifically on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). SWETE phase VII and the 2021 Sustainable Landspreading project focuses on the study of the capacity of soils to accept contaminants from land spreading activities.

This work package targets to help Member States on the transition to the Circular Economy within the water cycle. Through the share of good practices in urban, industrial and food production water management, in terms of water use and reuse (use of treated wastewaters as an alternative water source) is intended to identify and improve solutions in terms of water use efficiency (taking into account both quality and quantity aspects), that may contribute to zero pollution solutions.

The Council Conclusions on countering environmental crime (8 December 2016) have recognised the role of IMPEL in countering Environmental Crimes, but a common definition of “water crimes” is a challenging task. Furthermore, water-related crimes are often recoded under other offences – like fraud, corruption, trafficking, falsification of documents, terrorism – for the absence of a systematic analytical approach. The nature and extent of these kinds of activities is still relatively unknown. Based on this background, this proposal aims at increasing knowledge on water crimes, engaging the IMPEL Community in a project aimed at collecting and sharing information about the topic, its presence, its perception and management at competent authorities.

The project aims at setting the basis for the development of autonomous Peer Review activities in National Networks of Environmental Authorities and Agencies. It can be used as an instrument to improve own performances through dialog, collaborative confrontation and sharing of good practices among the peers belonging to the same network.

Mining activity has always been a source of raw materials for man but at the same time has generated many environmental problems. Huge quantities of extractive waste, often abandoned, are sources of pollution and areas of geotechnical and hydrogeological instability. Nowadays, after numerous accidents involving mining activities, the European Commission adopted the Directive 2006/21/EC on the management of waste from extractive industries (known as Mining Directive) that amended Directive 2004/35/EC.

IMPEL has been asked by the European Commission to expand and apply its regulatory capability into the Water & Land Expert Team. Effective water and land resource management (both quality and quantity) relies on good forward planning and delivery based on data, information and professional judgement. It is essential that economic growth in each Member State supports planned sustainable water & Land resource protection and utilization. Futhermore, ECA Initiative, promoted by the European Commission pose new challenges, in particular on point n.5 (Prepare guidance document(s) on good practices in environmental compliance assurance in rural areas (in relation to land and water)) that need to be investigated, discussed, to find out proposals to fulfill the ambitious IMPEL’s further evolution perspective.

Many rivers, lakes and streams in the EU are far away from the good water status that they should have reached by December 2015 or should reach at the latest by 2027, according to the EU Water Framework Directive. In Germany, for instance, only 10 % of rivers and streams have a good ecological and chemical status, due to pollution by wastewater, agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, heavy canalization, obstruction by hydro dam barriers, as well as urban sprawl and ground sealing in the catchment areas. In order to reduce and reverse these impacts on water status, it is necessary to assess them in an integrated way and carefully prioritise the necessary measures.

The European Commission identified this project area as a priority to IMPEL. They highlighted that there are poor levels of compliance with the Water Framework Directive (diffuse pollution & illegal abstraction) and the Nitrates Directive and that a gap has been identified between “environmental” and “agricultural” inspectorates. As a result they wished to see enhanced networking of different regulatory agencies to achieve higher levels of compliance in the agricultural sector, an exchange of pertinent information and current best practice with respect to diffuse pollution and the control of nitrates.

The balance between a competitive agricultural production and the protection of water ecosystems is a concern for the EU member states within the common agricultural policy (CAP) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Instruments for achieving sustainable use of pesticides are voluntary agro-environment commitments funded within Rural Development Programs (RDPs) and regulatory minimum requirements of cross compliance and basic measures according to WFD. In order to achieve the objectives of good status in ground- and surface waters, article 11.3 in WFD states that a review of, and if necessary updates of, the measures to prevent and control the use of pesticides should be performed and included in the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs). The national regulation in order to reach the objectives should be described and this legal baseline of basic measures to prevent and control the use of pesticides according to the directive (2009/128/EC) of sustainable use of pesticides should be identified in the program of measures that the member states are finalising in December 2015 according to WFD. Furthermore, according to WFD risk based (operational) monitoring programs should be designed in order to follow the need of measures in order to reduce pollutants in ground- and surface waters. These costs of monitoring are within the member states to a various extent covered by the public and the pesticide users. The implementation of the WFD has been running for the first management cycle and there are various implementation gaps in member states depending on prerequisites and national problems and opportunities. IMPEL network plans to exchange plans and strategies for facilitating further implementation of the WFD in national law in order to achieve a harmonized balance between obligatory and voluntary measures and a harmonised use of the polluter pays principle when costs of monitoring are to be shared.

Nitrate pollution from agriculture is a crucial area for IMPEL to work on due to poor levels of compliance with the Water Framework Directive and the Nitrates Directive. During 2013 a successful project was held to establish networks between agricultural and environmental inspectors in the field of diffuse pollution and the Nitrates Directive. Two field visits were held looking at the two primary topic areas. Members of the project identified that they wish to continue work in this area through the development of more exchange visits and through the development of a guidance document to share good practice identified in this area to aid implementation.

Over-abstraction occurs not only for irrigation use but even for industrial and civil uses and can cause in some cases dramatic effects on soil subsidence. Typical cases of illegal water abstraction occur when wells are operating without permit, or when water is pumped form rivers or channels without permit. Earth Observation (EO), especially satellite remote sensing, can provide well established methods for the monitoring of water abstraction. The detection of illegal water abstraction is a further step forward and is feasible only if permits are organized in a proper GIS. At first instance, EO methods for the monitoring of water abstraction could be summarized as follows:

IMPEL is organising the 2015 Soil Conference, with the scope of sharing experiences and to support the implementation of best practices about soil protection among Practitioners at EU level. The context is the “International Year of Soils (IYS)”, declared by the United Nations for this year and, in general the opportunity of developing at awareness raising initiatives on protection of this vital environmental compartment.