Pressures and Measures in the RBMPs with a Focus on Hydromorphological Alterations
- Project
- Duration
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On behalf of the European Commission, Ecologic Institute compiles and evaluates information on the environmental effectiveness of hydromorphological measures used in River Basin Management Plans. This assessment takes place in the context of a multi-partner "Comparative Study of Pressures and Measures in the Major River Basin Management Plans in the EU".
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) required Member States to report their first River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) by March 2010. The European Commission (EC) has been assessing the compliance of RBMPs against the provisions of the WFD and carrying out a "bottom up" assessment of the plans. In the same time, the EC commissioned a "Comparative Study of Pressures and Measures in the Major River Basin Management Plans in the EU" entailing a "top down" assessment of the RBMPs on certain topics that merit a deeper analysis. In this comparative study, the analysis builds on the information available within RBMPs and complemented by other sources in order to broaden the scope of the analysis. The following topics are examined: governance and legal aspects, development and analysis of appropriate methodologies, integration of water policy into related sectors, WFD programmes of measures, economic aspects, innovation and technology.
The study has the following objectives:
- to gather, in a structured way, information on various elements related to river basin management and
- to analyse and compare the collected information in order to provide conclusions at the European level.
The outcome of this comparative study will support the 2012 Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters.
One of the tasks of the study is dedicated to the compilation of existing information on hydromorphological measures used in RBMPs and their environmental effectiveness. This should contribute to promoting existing knowledge on the effectiveness of successful hydromorphological measures in the EU.
The task also entails contributing information on hydromorphological measures to a future WISE database of measures that will cover also other pressures including agriculture, drinking water protection, water abstraction and mining.