Ecological elements to be considered in RBMPsThe register of protected areas

Yannick Pochon

Antalya, 12/01/2014

Module 2: Water Budget, Pressures and Impacts, Significant Water Management Issues, Monitoring,

Characterization Report

Contents

1. Introduction 2. What Biological/environmental aspects in the WFD 3. The register of protected areas

Definitions Protected areas in Turkey ?

1. Introduction

4The WFD: a major text for water policy

More than 30 European directives concerning water

With the WFD

A sectorial approach

fight against some substances(Dangerous substances directives, Nitrate directive, …)

standards and regulation by use (potable water, bathing, …)

Before

A main objective : protection of aquatic bodies and of water ressources

Upcoming abrogation of several directives

Water management with maximal considerations of

ecological functions of waters

Ecological status of waters

Risk assessment

Environmental objectives

Register of Protected

AreasBiological Monitoring

2. What Biological/environmental aspects in the WFD

« DPSIR » = « Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impacts, Responses », EEA,1998

7

ResponsesDriving

forces

Pressures

Status

Impacts

DPSIR

First step, initial characterisation

- Describe the basin (water bodies, typology ...);- Describe the human occupation of the territory;- Describe the pressures of human activities on aquatic environments- Describes the status of water bodies- Derive an assessment of impacts;- Predict the risk of not achieving the environmental objectives by 2021;- Assessment of cost recovery.

The notion of Water Body

On a basin, homogeneous units of diagnostic are defined; the Water Bodies.

They are delineated from morphological, biological, geological, hydrological… conditions. The delineation is based on criteria given in the text of WFD and detailed in european workgroups

Figure 7: Delineating the water body according to protected areas

If one part of a water body is identified as a protected area, this part must be a separate water body since different protection measures must be taken and different monitoring requirements must be applied for water bodies with the status of protected areas.

Example delineation

Pressures

Sourc

e:

Min

istr

y o

f th

e e

nvir

onm

ent,

Québ

ec,

Canad

aDomestic uses: drinking water supply wastewater treatment

Industrial uses• abstraction• discharges

Agricultural uses• abstraction• diffuse discharges

Recreational / ecological uses• angling• bathing...

hydropower

Aquaculture

Biological monitoring

Classification of the ecological status

Small or very small deviation from the reference conditions

Slight deviation from the reference conditions

Medium deviation from the reference conditions

Important deviation from the reference conditions

Very important deviation from the reference conditions

EQR = 1

EQR = 0

Very good status = reference conditions

Good status

Moderate status

Poor status

Bad status

Wetlands and the WFD

The purpose of the WFD in relation to wetlands as stated in Article 1 is unambiguous. Article 1(a) states that the Directive will

‘establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater, which:

‘prevents further deterioration and protects and enhances the status of aquatic ecosystems and, with regard to their water needs, terrestrial ecosystems and wetlands directly depending on the aquatic ecosystems.’

Wetlands can comprise part or all of the ecosystems designated for protection within the WFD

Wetlands can contribute to the protection and enhancement of ecosystems specified within the WFD

Where are the wetlands?

Rivers

Lakes

Transitional & coastal waters

Terrestrial ecosystems directly dependent on groundwater for their water needs

Hydromorphological quality elements of surface water bodies

Links with « Nature » Directives

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/management/docs/FAQ-WFD%20final.pdf

What are the emerging subjects related to environmental aspects currently at EU level ?

BluePrint Communication(2012)

Priority n°1 : better implementation of existing EU law

better address water quantity issues and link with quality

account for the amount of water required for the aquatic ecosystem to continue to thrive and provide the services

= identification and enforcement of ecological flows

E-flows in the CIS work programme

• Deliverable: Guidance on Ecological Flows (Eflow) by 2014

• Description: A guidance on ecological parameters/ecological flows and hydrological parameters for assessing quantitative aspects (the volume and level or rate of flow) and the link to GES are defined, allowing for an assessment of pressures from all abstractions and climate change.

• Leads: COM, ES and FR

• Interlinkages with other WGs: Ecostat, Floods, Groundwater, Programme of Measures, Agriculture and Water Accounts work under KID cluster

Follow up to the Blueprint The new CIS work program took to account the Blueprint proposals:

Working Group PoM and deliverable on CIS COM Launched Pilot Project:'' Integration of Natural Water Retention

Measures in river basin management'' (www.nwrm.eu ) Commission draws attention to the inclusion of Green Infrastructure in

the Partnership Agreements negotiated with Member States and other financing instruments

Encourage synergies with other EU policies to be exploited

Definition of NWRM

Natural Water Retention Measures are multi-functional measures that aim to protect and manage water resources and address water-related challenges by restoring or maintaining ecosystems as well as natural features and characteristics of water bodies using natural means and processes.

The main focus is to enhance and preserve the water retention capacity of aquifers, soil, and ecosystems with a view to improve their status. The application of NWRM supports green infrastructure, improves or preserves the quantitative status of surface water and groundwater bodies and can positively affect the chemical and ecological status of water bodies by restoring or enhancing natural functioning of ecosystems and the services they provide. The preserved or restored ecosystems can contribute both to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

NWRM example: Re-meandering

Pictures From NWRM Pilot Project Documentation, Original Source: http://riverwatch.eu/en/the-morava-anniversary-project-2014

Restoration action with multiple benefits: Improvement of Ecological Status, Biodiversity enhancement, Slowing down of water flow (regulation) Flood protection

3. The register of protected areas

Definition

The Water Framework Directive specifies that all areas that require special protection under other EU legislation for their surface water and groundwater or for the conservation of habitats and species directly depending on water status, have to be identified as protected areas. Article 6 of WFD requires Member States to register these protected areas.

Definition (2)

The types of protected areas that must be included in the register are as follows:• Surface water and ground water protection areas used for drinking water supply (Drinking Water Protection Areas),• Water bodies designated as recreational waters, including areas designated as Bathing Waters,• Nutrient-sensitive areas, including areas identified as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones under the Nitrates Directive or areas designated as sensitive areas under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive,• Areas designated for the protection of habitats or species where the maintenance or improvement of the water status is needed, including relevant Natura 2000 sites (water dependent special areas of conservation, and water dependent special protection areas),• Areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species (Freshwater Fish and Shellfish), until December 2013 when the relevant EU legislation is repealed.

Definition (3)

Protected areas that do not require special protection for their surface or groundwater or, possessing habitats and species that do not depend on water are not included in the protected areas identified under Article 6 of WFD.

Protected areas have their own objectives and standards. All the protected areas identified and registered under WFD must be considered from the viewpoint of the integrated river basin management under WFD. Water bodies within the scope of protected areas may have extra objectives in addition to the objectives of WFD.

Additional monitoring needs are identified for protected areas. Protected areas must be monitored to reflect the size and the impact of all significant pressures. Monitoring will continue until the requirements of the directive under which they are declared to be protected areas or until the environmental objectives are achieved.

Summary of legislation

Protected Area Scope Legislation Status

Drinking water protection area

 

Areas designated for the abstraction of water for human consumption 

Drinking Water Abstraction Directive (75/440/EEC), Sampling Drinking Water Daughter Directive to the Drinking Water Abstraction Directive (consolidated 79/869/EEC)

Repealed in December 2007 and replaced by WFD

Bathing watersWater bodies designated as recreation areas

Bathing Waters Directive (2006/7/EC)  

Nitrate vulnerable zones

Areas where water quality is affected by elevated nitrate from agriculture

Nitrate Directive

(91/676/EEC) 

Nutrient sensitive areas

Areas designated where water is subject to eutrophication or water quality is affected by elevated nitrate from discharges

Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (27/91/EEC)

 

Nature protection areas

Areas designated for the protection of habitats or species where the maintenance or improvement of the water status is needed, including relevant Natura 2000 sites

Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) and Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC)

 

Freshwater fish protected area

Areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species

Freshwater Fish Directive (2006/44/EC)

Repealed in December 2013 and replaced by WFD

Shellfish protected area

Areas designated for the protection of economically significant aquatic species

Shellfish Waters Directive (2006/113/EC)

Repealed in December 2013 and replaced by WFD

Some parts of the directives mentioned above have been transposed into Turkish legislation and alignment of some other legislation is in progress. Protection areas have not been identified yet for the directives which are still in the alignment process.

7 novembre 2002

What are the obligations related to the protected areas?

Member States ensure that the register are established (four years after entry into force) …

In each hydrographic districts, the register must be regularly updated .

The RBMPs must include: • The identification and mapping of the protected areas• Maps of the monitoring networks establish for protected areas

and maps of the results. • A list of specific environmental objectives defined for protected

areas.

7 novembre 2002

Drinking Water Protection Areas

Article 7.1 states that Member States shall identify, within each river basin district

All bodies of water used for abstraction of groundwater intended for human consumption providing more than 10 m3 a day as average or serving more than 50 persons, and bodies of water intended for such future use.

Different protection zones

Zone 1 – Inner source pro-tection zone

Zone 2 – Outer source protection zone

Zone 3 – Remainder of the source catchment

30

Nutrient sensitive areas

Surface freshwaters, in particular those used or intended for the abstraction of drinking water, containing 50mg/l nitrates, ground waters containing more than 50 mg/l nitrates, and natural freshwater lakes, other freshwater bodies, estuaries, coastal waters and marine waters that are found to be eutrophic or in the near future may become eutrophic if no actions are taken, are defined as nutrient sensitive areas.

There are no additional monitoring requirements for nutrient sensitive areas under WFD since the Nitrates Directive is based on monitoring a limited number of parameters and both surveillance and operational monitoring networks comprise these parameters.

Bathing waters

Under the Bathing Water Directive (76/160/EEC) Member States are required to designate coastal and inland bathing waters and to monitor the quality of the water throughout the bathing season. Bathing waters are designated where bathing is authorised by the competent authority and also where bathing is traditionally practised by a large number of bathers. The bathing season is then determined according to the period when there are the largest number of bathers (May to September in most European countries)

On 24 October 2002, the Commission adopted the proposal for a revised Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Quality of Bathing Water COM(2002)581. The New Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) entered into force on 24.3.2006. It applies to any element of surface water where the competent authority expects a large number of people to bathe and has not imposed a permanent bathing prohibition, or issued permanent advice against bathing, except for swimming pools and spa pools, confined waters subject to treatment or used for therapeutic purposes and artificially created confined waters separated from surface water and groundwater.

Bathing water protected areas must be evaluated annually. The monitoring point must be identified in a location where most bathers are expected or the greatest risk of pollution is expected, according to the bathing water profile. Monitoring frequency is at least once a month with a minimum of 4-samples including one sample shortly before the start of the bathing season or a minimum of 3-samples if the bathing season is less than 8-weeks or it is in a region subject to special geographical considerations. If there is a short-term pollution, an additional sample should be collected to confirm that it has ended.

Nature protection areas

These areas are identified under Natura 2000. In addition to WFD objectives, additional objectives may be set and

additional monitoring may be required. The monitoring for nature protection areas in addition to the one for the classification of water body status according to WFD is identified based on characteristics related to Natura 2000 areas (generally, biological). The water bodies which fall under the protection areas defined in the Birds and Habitat Directive and which will fail to achieve the environmental objectives must be covered by the operational monitoring network.

CIS Guidance Document No. 12 provides guidance for selecting species and habitats to be considered for protected area status according to WFD.

Nature protection areas

Natura 2000 Species Natura 2000 Habitats

1.a Aquatic species living in surface waters as defined in Article 2

of WFD (e.g. bottle-nose dolphin, freshwater pearl mussel)

2.a Habitats which consist of surface water or occur entirely

within surface water, as defined in Art. 2 of WFD (e.g.

oligotrophic waters, estuaries, eelgrass beds)

1.b Species with at least one aquatic life stage dependent on

surface water (i.e. breeding, incubation, juvenile development,

sexual maturation, feeding or roosting – including many Natura

bird and invertebrate species)

2.b Habitats which depend on frequent inundation, or on the

level of groundwaters (e.g. alluvial alder wood, blanket bog,

fens)

1.c Species that rely on the non-aquatic but water-dependent

habitats relevant under 2.b and 2.c in the habitats column of this

table (e.g. Killarney fern)

2.c Non-aquatic habitats which depend on the influence of

surface water – e.g. spray, humidity (bryophyte-rich gorges)

should be considered

Table : Ecological criteria for identifying Natura species and habitats that are directly dependent on the status of the water

Freshwater Fish Protected Areas

The Freshwater Fish Directive (2006/44/EC) has been repealed in December 2013 and replaced by WFD.

The Freshwater Fish Directive only considers the suitability of water quality for fish life. WFD gives a more comprehensive protection than this Directive.

Under the Freshwater Fish Directive, all fresh surface waters must be classified as salmonid and cyprinid waters. Salmonid waters are waters where fish belonging to species such as salmon (Salmo salar), trout (Salmo trutta), grayling (Thymallus thymallus) and whitefish (Coregonus) can live or would live if pollution was eliminated. Cyprinid waters are waters where fish belonging to the cyprinids (Cyprinidae), or other species such as pike (Esox lucius), perch (Perca fluviatilis) and eel (Anguilla anguilla) can live.

Oxygen, BOD and ammonia standards are identified in the directive for water bodies where either of these groups of fish live or could live in the absence of pollution.

Shellfish protected areas

The Shellfish Waters Directive (Directive 2006/113/EC) has been repealed in December 2013 and replaced by WFD, which gives the same level of protection.

It applies to those coastal and brackish waters which need protection or improvement in order to allow shellfish to develop and to contribute to the high quality of shellfish products intended for human consumption.

The Directive establishes parameters applicable to designated shellfish waters, indicative values, mandatory values, reference methods of analysis and the minimum frequency for taking samples and measures.

The parameters applicable to shellfish waters are set for pH, temperature, coloration, suspended solids, salinity, dissolved oxygen and the presence or concentration of certain substances (hydrocarbons, metals, organohalogenated substances).

However, this directive included standards for microbiological parameters that are not covered by the standards in WFD.

Example of an online register of protected areas

http://carmen.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/11/rzp_bassin.map

Example in Turkey

Waterbodies that are protected areas Akarcay Buyuk Menderes KonyaMeric

Ergene Susurluk Total

Bathing water 0 1 0 0 0 1

Birds and habitat directives 0 8 0 0 0 8

Drinking water 1 18 4 19 4 46

Wetland 0 0 0 3 2 5

Others 0 1 21 0 0 22

Waterbody passing protected area not dependant on water 0 8 0 0 39 47

Waterbodies 1 36 25 22 45 129

Monitoring points 1 9 8 9 4 31

Example in Turkey

Example in Turkey

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