1. Flemish Environment Agency
9th CMA meeting - Ghent
Rudy Cautaerts
Head of Department
Reporting Water
Flemish Environment Agency

2. Welcome
Belgium
Flemish region
VMM - Flemish Environment Agency 2

3. EU / BE / FL 3

4. Flemish government Management council
Flemish Minister for
Public Works, Energy, the Environment and Nature
Adv. Council Environment,
Nature and Energy
(MiNa)
Management council
Technical committees
Ministry of Environment, Nature & Energy
Department
Environment, Nature & Energy
Flemish Environment Agency
(VMM)
Flemish Energy Agency (VEA)
(VEA)
Public Waste Agency of Flanders
(OVAM)
Policy domain Environment, Nature & Energy
Agency for Nature and Forestry
(ANB)
Flemish Land Agency
(VLM)
Institute of
Nature and Forestry Research
(INBO)
Flemish Regulation Entity
for the Electricity and Gas market
(VREG)

5. Overall mission
Mission
2015…2027… 5

6. VMM - mission
VMM = internally independent agency with powers of jurisdiction (°1990)
Founding Decree of 23 December 2005: mission
“contribute to
the realisation of the objectives of the environmental policy by preventing, limiting and eliminating the harmful effects to water systems and the atmosphere
and by reporting on the state of the environment
and the realisation of the objectives of integrated water management.” 6

7. VMM: organization chart
ADMINISTRATOR-GENERAL
F. Van Sevencoten
GENERAL DIRECTOR
INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT
D. Waegeman
REPORTING WATER
R. Cautaerts
AIR QUALITY, ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNICATION
Ph. D’Hondt
ECOLOGICAL SUPERVISION
D. Waegeman
ECONOMICAL SUPERVISION
L. Fleurinck
OPERATIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT
P. Thomas
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
E. Vreye
GENERAL AFFAIRS
M. Van Den Langenbergh 7

8. Department Water Reporting
Organisation:
Some facts & figures:
# staff = 174
# FTE = 154
operational budget = +/- 7,2 mio EUR
> monitoring points/stations 8

9. Activities Water Reporting
Monitoring surface water:
fysico-chemical monitoring (priority substances etc…)
biological monitoring (macro-invertebrates, phytoplankton, phytobenthos, macrophytes)
ecotoxicological research (solid phase, liquid phase, …)
hydromorfology of waterbodies
monitoring in terms of WFD
Bacteriological quality of bathing water (coastal and inland waters)
Monitoring waste water:
fysico-chemical monitoring industrial discharges (environmental levy)
fysico-chemical monitoring influent/effluent of public wastewater treatment plants (Aquafin)
network of measuring stations to monitor the effects of sewer network storm overflows on the surface water quality.
Drawing up water emission registers (e-PRTR,…) 9

10. Activities Water Reporting
Analytical laboratory
numerous inorganic components/elements
specialized in organic analysis
QA/QC
extended accreditation scope (BELAC/ISO 17025)
Reporting on water quality
water quality database on
international reports (OESO/Eurostat; UN-GEMS/water; EMA-WISE/SoE, …)
(yearly) status reports
specific issue reports
Water quality incident management
alarmprocedure on monitoringresults
24/7 procedure in case of environmental incident/calamity reporting 10

11. Activities Water Reporting
Monitoring sediment and suspended solids:
fysico-chemical monitoring
biological monitoring (macro-invertebrates)
ecotoxicological research (solid phase, liquid phase, …)
quantity of sediments (bathymetry)
load and quality of suspended solids with centrifuge 11

12. 12

13. 9th CMA meeting (Ghent) WFD Thus…
Monitoring requirements chemical status surface/ground waters
compliance aim: good chemical status surface/ground water bodies
reporting of data, with demonstrated and comparable quality throughout EU
Thus…
assess and develop coordination at EU level
with respect to quality assurance of WFD monitoring programs
ensuring comparability of monitoring data
from one river basin district to another
AMPS expert group (= Expert Group on Analysis and Monitoring of Priority Substances)
specific discussions with regard to monitoring of priority substances in surface waters, suspended particulate mater, sediments and biota.
The Chemical Monitoring Activity’s (and its drafting groups)
focused on various monitoring issues such as sampling / sample pre-treatment, recommended analytical methods, data quality requirements and quality control/quality assurance, …
Output of CMA workshops and plenary meetings (9th in Ghent):
Already realized: guidance on surface water chemical monitoring under the water framework directive.
Now on the agenda: a draft guidance on sediment & biota 13