State of the Environment reporting Agenda 5. CIS WG D meeting 28-29 September 2011 DG ENV, Brussels State of the Environment reporting Agenda 5. Peter Kristensen / Bo N. Jacobsen EEA

Outline Ministerial Conference in Astana EEA technical report on hazardous substances EEA 2012 State of Water assessment

"Environment for Europe" Ministerial Conference, Astana, 21-23 September 2011 In support of the 2011 'Environment for Europe' Ministerial Conference in Astana, EEA has prepared 'Europe's environment — An Assessment of Assessments' (EE-AoA). This report provides a comprehensive overview of available sources of environmental information across the region which directly relate to the themes in focus at the Conference, water and related ecosystems, and green economy. http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/regions/pan-european/europes-environment-an-assessment

Assessments

The EE-AoA demonstrated that At the European scales a multitude of inland water assessments is available. Nearly every country has frequent water assessment in the form of chapters in State of the Environment reports, environmental statistics, and dedicated state of water reports and water indicators Over the last 15 years the amount of water information has increased. However, there are no clear evidence that it is being used or having an impact on policy! Many of the reports analysed are generally rich in statistical data but are of limited use in the policy-making process.

Hazardous substances in Europe's fresh and marine waters — An overview Technical report No 8/2011 Sources, pathways and emissions Hazardous substances in water, aquatic biota and sediments Impacts of hazardous substances in water Protecting Europe’s fresh and marine waters from chemical pollution Improved assessment and modelling tools Conclusions

Inputs Impacts Modelling tools

Conclusions Hazardous substances in water affect aquatic life and pose risks to human health Legislation continues to play an important role, but challenges exist The potential risks posed by emerging pollutants are insufficiently understood The ubiquity of some hazardous substances presents particular challenges The quantitative understanding of sources and emissions must be improved Smart modelling and assessment tools are required Chemicals should be produced and used more sustainably Climate change will also affect chemical water quality Training for expertise in environmental risk assessment should be supported

EEA 2012 State of Water assessment 100 pages synthesis/integrated report more than five Water thematic assessments (20-40 pages) Overview of status and pressures affecting Europe’s water Related to the main policy issues WFD Article 18: … a review of the status of surface water and groundwater in the Community under-taken in coordination with the European Environment Agency;

170 RBMPs Analysis Other information DG Environment Blueprint to Safeguard European Waters Analysis WFD imple-mentation Water scarcity & drought Climate change & water EEA State of European Water Synthesis/integrated Water assessment Other information Status of waters and pressures affecting them Further assessments – e.g. water resource efficiency, water accounts, ecosystem goods and services Thematic (focused) assessments

Analysing the information from RBMPs Since the April WG D meeting the work on analysing information from River Basin Management Plans and other sources and planning the different reports (thematic assessments and synthesis report) have progressed. However, we have not progressed as far as we had hoped; there are a lot of obstacles and challenges (e.g. differences in aggregation levels) in analysing the huge amount of information being reported by Member States from the RBMPs.

Some preliminary results (13 MS) ~70 000 inland surface water bodies 58% of the classified European freshwater water bodies have ecological status or potential less than good The percentage of freshwater water bodies with less than good ecological status or potential ranges from 33% in Finland to 100% in Belgium In 10 of the 13 countries the percentage of water bodies with ecological status or potential less than good is higher than 50%

Timeplan Analyse information from RBMPs, Water Scarcity and Drought and other issues (e.g. water ressource efficiency) – untill October 2011 – update later Prepare baseline state and pressure indicators (graphs+assessments) (ready 4 quarter 2011) Draft thematic and integrated assessments (Autumn 2011/1. half of 2012) Present and discuss results and assessments with stakeholders (Eionet NRCs, WFD CIS – 1. half of 2012) 2012 finalise and publish the assessments

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