Meeting of Water Directors 2/3 December 2004 Agenda item 6.1 – Water Information System for Europe (WISE) in the context of wider discussion on environmental reporting

Introduction Water Information System for Europe (WISE) developed and agreed through concept paper New, innovative approach for water reporting phasing out the existing, inefficient paper-based reporting One conceptual approach fulfilling several purposes/needs Aims at developing the water component in a wider system of environmental reporting

AIMS Efficient management of information on water Coherence between various reporting mechanisms Acces to information / data

Current situation Information Users Public M S EEA Intern. Conv. Information COM Information Information Information Information Member States Data Data treatment

Purposes for reporting Common vision Information Users Policy Effectiveness Public M S EEA Intern. Conv. Useful Information COM SoE Trends An. Data treatment / aggregation Compliance checking Member States Data Purposes for reporting Drivers for data collection

“Useful data/information” INSPIRE, WISE EU wide Water-related data / hydrography Other environmental compatrm. (soil, air) Driving forces (e.g. agriculture, transport) 1 Member State EGM 1 river basin (district) communication tools between levels and layers aggregation rules quality checks 1 sub-basin Regional and local tools 1 water body 1 monitoring station Tools 1 sample Layers biology pollutants physico. morphol.

Development of a new, comprehensive,shared Objective Development of a new, comprehensive,shared European data and information management system for water, including river basins (WISE). The system should be based on the concept paper and should be fully implemented by 2010

Wider environmental reporting Standardised reporting directive – revision under discussion INSPIRE – Commission proposal adopted Processes under other directives/policies (e.g. IPPC-EPER and PRTR) Ideas of the EEA, ESTAT, JRC, others Discussion in EPRG (Environmental Policy Review Group – MS Environmental Director Generals)

Opportunities Long term vision Linkages INSPIRE, GMES Policy tool Different interests of EU bodies (ENV, JRC, EEA, EUROSTAT), WISE based on joint EU position

Obstacles Member States are reactive not proactive (no real interest that the system works) Compatibility with existing (national) systems Timelines tight Reporting authority: MS but reporting unit: river basin district Harmonisation vs. diversity of approaches How to deal with Community languages? Timing of INSPIRE/New Reporting Directive

Summary WISE is the best way forward for water-related reporting Joint process of EU bodies and MS is crucial for success WISE conceptually fully integrated in wider environmental reporting discussion (incl. INSPIRE) WISE can serve as a test case/pilot but details need further elaboration/clarification