1. A Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s water resources: main results and follow-up
22nd WG D Meeting, 15/4/2012
Jacques Delsalle, European Commission
DG Environment

2. Blueprint Objectives Integration
Adressing
Water Stress
Ensure sufficient availability of good quality water for sustainable and equitable water use
Economic
Instruments
Resilience to
Extreme Events
Governance
Good
Ecological Status
Knowledge
Base

3. Knowledge Base: operational objectives
Improve EU-wide economic analysis for WFD Common Implementation Strategy
Integrate quantitative issues into RBMP
Support better integration water policy into sectoral policies
Increase interoperability of the information / decrease administrative burden.
Provide indicators and targets for Europe Ressource Efficiency Roadmap
E.g. WFD Art 5: Baseline, scenarios
In particular EU policy and funding instruments
Integrated water resources management
Water stress / water efficiency indicators

4. Blueprint follow-up
The implementation and monitoring of the Blueprint will use WFD-CIS as platform.
In the first phase ( ), the objective will be:
to provide support for preparation of the next RBMPs by 2015
to strengthen the knowledge base and tools that will support the assessment of these plans and the review of the WFD.

5. Knowledge-Policy Interface
Improved policy making
Improve comparability / transparency
Fully integrate quantity and quality
Ensure sectoral policy integration
Improved knowledge base:
Water cycle & use
Ecological status
Measures and policy instruments
Costs and benefits
Hydro-economic modelling / target setting
"Knowledge-Policy Interaction"
Testing measures and policy instruments
River basin networks

6. Knowledge needs (1/2) Not only compliance checking…
Build the business case for investment in measures that will deliver water policy objectives or impact water resources.
Costs of inaction, scenarios, vulnerability assessments
Costs and benefits measures
Integration funding instruments / sectoral policies
Link to macro-economic policy
At all levels!
European Union, Member State, River Basin, Region, sector, etc.
Link to Europe 2020 and Impact Assessment Processes

7. Knowledge needs (2/2)
Support to EU-wide impact assessment tools (base year water availability and use)
Production of water exploitation, consumption, efficiency indicators
Ecosystem services accounting
Cost-effective production of data required under ESTAT/OECD questionnaires, SoE#3, etc.
Identify gaps / ensure consistent assessment of water resources accross the EU

8. What does it mean in terms of indicators?
Distance to good status
Water exploitation / consumption indices
Water efficiency / productivity
Life cycle impacts
Pricing / % cost recovery
Vulnerability to extreme events
Cost & benefits of water resource management measures

9. Blueprint follow-up: building blocks
Water cycle & use
Reference situation water availability and demand
Ecological status
Focus on ecological flows and vulnerability
Measures and policy instruments
Shared database of measures and case studies:
Costs, effectiveness, impacts, applicability
Hydro-economic modelling
Valuation costs and benefits, including ecosystem services
Baseline + scenarios: pressure on water ressources, changes in water availability
Target setting / Integration into RBMP

10. The need for hydro-economic modelling
EU-wide integrated assessment tools to support EU policy processes
Water resources issues often under-represented in existing IA tools
Build on EU internal capacities and reporting/statistic processes
EU wide overview and differences between territories
Based on realistic representation of water availability and demand for the base year
Capacity building for the development of similar tools at Member State / River Basin levels
Exchange of best practices
Filling data gaps in monitoring, research, etc.
Blueprint proposed CIS guidance

11. EU water balances project (2011/12)
Contract for DG ENV with technical support from EEA in the context of the Blueprint
Based on UN SEEA-W methodology
Shift from Year /country to Month /sub-basin…
Use of already reported water data and additional specific data collection
Calculation based on an average 8 years input data
> functional elementary catchments basis for disagregation/agregation of data

12. Example of results: “WEI+” 90 percentile12

13. Main data gaps River discharge gaps is the major issue
Jeopardising the whole exercise in many basins, in East and South-East Europe
Groundwater quantitative status
Divergent reporting quality across member states
E.g. waste water treatment
Lack of geo-localisation (national data) or geolocalised databases lacking data on water use
e.g. PLATTS or E-PRTR
Uncertainty on % consumptive use
Irrigation, cooling, etc
Economics of water demand 13

14. Lessons learned from the 2011-2012 process
WB at sub-catchment levels with monthly resolution, under the SEEAW enhanced methodology, are technically feasible and affordable.
WB tells very important information on water resource issues (for uses and ecological support) and their diversity across EU.
Current data flows not adapted to the production of water balances.

15. Follow-up 2012 Results not published as EU product, but…
… urgent need for water indicators for Ressource Efficiency Roadmap
Need for further bilateral coordination with MS and sectors
E.g. delineation of sub-catchments, better understanding water use, access to river flow data
More Member States / sectors to be involved in the process
Better integration to CIS work: Link with indicators, e-flows, economic analysis, target setting

16. Follow-up (2/2) Calls for tender 2013-2014
Produce revised and complete EU water balance at sub-catchment level and monthly resolution by end 2014
Address the most relevant data gaps
Set the basis for a cost-efficient permanent process
Geolocalised database of water use in thermal power plants and manufacturing cooling processes
Costs, benefits and implementation of natural water retention measures

17. What could be the options for the medium term?
Source data
Consistency
check
Water balance, indicators, scenarios & impact assessments
MS/RB balance
& model
Ensure
availability
& interoperability
Ensure
availability
& interoperability
Consistency
check
Consistency
check
Consistency
check
EU balance
& model

18. Thank you!