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Strategies for implementing the requirements of Article 11 (3) l of the
Water Framework Directive aimed at preventing and minimising the consequences
of unexpected water pollution arising from technical installations

30 November 2009 marked the completion of the Ufoplan research project “Strategies for implementing the requirements and objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive aimed at preventing and minimising the consequences of unexpected water pollution arising from technical installations”. It provides general proposals, with examples of measures, for solutions in a field of water conservation that has hitherto received little attention in connection with the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Moreover, it makes a close examination of the aspect of cost-effectiveness and proportionality which is also called for in the WFD.

Artikel 11 WRRL	Article 11 WFD
Maßnahmenprogramm	Programme of measures
(3) "Grundlegende Maßnahmen" sind die zu erfüllenden Mindestanforderungen und beinhalten	3. “Basic measures” are the minimum requirements to be complied with and shall consist of:

a) Maßnahmen zur Umsetzung gemeinschaftlicher Wasserschutzvorschriften einschließlich der Maßnahmen gemäß den Rechtsvorschriften nach Artikel 10 und Anhang VI Teil A;	(a) those measures required to implement Community legislation for the protection of water, including measures required under the legislation specified in Article 10 and in part A of Annex VI;

l) alle erforderlichen Maßnahmen, um Freisetzungen von signifikanten Mengen an Schadstoffen aus technischen Anlagen zu verhindern und den Folgen unerwarteter Verschmutzungen, wie etwa bei Überschwemmungen, vorzubeugen und/oder diese zu mindern, auch mit Hilfe von Systemen zur frühzeitigen Entdeckung derartiger Vorkommnisse oder zur Frühwarnung und, im Falle von Unfällen, die nach vernünftiger Einschätzung nicht vorhersehbar waren, unter Einschluss aller geeigneter Maßnahmen zur Verringerung des Risikos für die aquatischen Ökosysteme.	(l) any measures required to prevent significant losses of pollutants from technical installations, and to prevent and/or to reduce the impact of accidental pollution incidents for example as a result of floods, including through systems to detect or give warning of such events including, in the case of accidents which could not reasonably have been foreseen, all appropriate measures to reduce the risk to aquatic ecosystems.

Background

Following the entry into force of Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD), water bodies in the European Union are to be managed in accordance with a uniform legal framework. The goal of such management is to achieve good ecological and good chemical status of the water bodies in the Community by 2015. One major instrument for achieving the goal is programmes of measures which together form part of the management plans due to start in 2010. Article 11 (3) WFD defines the minimum requirements for the measures designed to achieve the environmental objectives. Paragraph (3) l requires measures to prevent significant losses of pollutants from technical installations and to prevent and reduce the impact of accidental pollution incidents, including unforeseeable accidents which have already occurred. Such measures are also to make use of systems to detect or give warning of such events. This aspect has not been accorded great priority and has received little detailed attention in draft management plans to date.

Results

Based on an inventory of existing and planned activities in the International River Basin Commissions for the Elbe, Oder, Danube and Rhine, the project developed an action concept with tried-and-tested model management proposals for the implementation of Article 11 (3) l WFD.

Even in “the days before the Water Framework Directive”, people made preparations for harmful events and their consequences in lakes and rivers, and they took numerous measures which in some cases varied considerably from one region to another. For example, implementation of Article 11 (3) l WFD calls not so much for concepts that completely reinvent risk management, but rather for checklists or lists of measures that act as a guide to identifying any deficits that may still exist. For a concept of this kind, the project set outs the risk management system for the surface water path in the form of a graphic “Safety Chain” based on a chronological causal flow chart – from strategic precautions through damage containment to after-care measures. This safety chain is broken down into six action levels that are further differentiated with the aim of making it possible to identify individual measures relevant to Article 11 (3) l WFD. A schematic description is provided in Part II of the final report, and the necessary explanations follow in Part III.

This also focuses particularly on the inclusion of cost-effectiveness and proportionality aspects which is required by the WFD (not only, but also) in connection with programmes of measures. This requirement, which is comparatively new to environmental law, raises special problems in the field of precautions for incidents that take place only rarely or may never take place at all. The project discusses this with the aid of model calculations. This reveals that in most cases in-depth analysis fails because of the inadequacy of the underlying data.

The final report is available in German and English, and the summary (Part I) also exists in Russian. The texts can be downloaded here .

The project was carried out by the Institute of Hygiene and Environment at the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, in conjunction with the Institute for Infrastructure and Resource Management at the University of Leipzig.