Progress on the WFD implementation

The EC has adopted a communication towards sustainable water management in the EU giving a snapshot of the status of the Water Framework Directive -WFD- implementation in the member states. This assessment, presented at the EU water conference, is based on the official reporting from the EU Member States. It focuses on 3 elements of the WFD that have to be implemented before 2007: transposition into national law (art. 24 - Dec'03), administrative arrangements (designation of 110 River basin districts -art. 3) and environmental & economical analysis (art. 5). The main conclusions are that the implementation of the WFD is well advanced with some very positive examples, some significant shortcomings have been identified requiring more efforts from the MS but there is still time to achieve the objectives by 2015. At that meeting the Water System for Europe -WISE- was launched with preliminary information, it will be fully operational in 2010.