River health assessment and the EU Water Framework Directive

On December 22, 2000, the WFD (or the Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy) was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities and thereby entered into force. The WFD was the result of a process of more than five years of discussions and negotiations between a wide range of experts, stakeholders and policy makers. This process stressed the widespread agreement on key principles of modern water management that form today the foundation of the WFD. The WFD establishes a framework for the protection of all waters (including inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater) which, according to Article 1: • Prevents further deterioration of, protects and enhances the status of water resources; • Promotes sustainable water use based on long‐term protection of water resources; • Aims at enhancing protection and improvement of the aquatic environment through specific measures for the progressive reduction of discharges, emissions and losses of priority substances and the cessation or phasing‐out of discharges, emissions and losses of the priority hazardous substances; • Ensures the progressive reduction of pollution of groundwater and prevents its further pollution • Contributes to mitigating the effects of floods and droughts. • Overall, the Directive aims at achieving good water status for all waters by 2015.