1. Water Information System for Europe (WISE)
State-of-Play
Joint Workshop on WFD + UWWD Reporting
Brussels, 20/21 October 2005
Joachim D’Eugenio
European Commission, DG Environment
Unit D.2 – Water and Marine, WFD Team

2. Contents
Introduction - reporting
WISE – developing an idea
WISE - first operational steps
WISE – current situation
WISE - Implementation Plan

3. Commission Reporting:
current situation
Legislation to be repealed by the WFD Date of repeal
Exchange of Information Decision (77/795/EEC) 2007
Surface Water Directive (75/440/EEC amended by 79/869/EEC) 2007
Freshwater Fish Directive (78/659/EEC) 2013
Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923/EEC) 2013
Groundwater Directive (80/68/EEC) 2013
Dangerous Substances Directive (76/464/EEC) 2013
Legislation remaining in force
Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC)
Bathing Water Directive (76/160/EEC)
Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC)
Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC)
Legal transposition of the Directive (i.e. has the Directive been transposed into Member States’ legislation);
Compliance with the provisions of the Directive (e.g. does Drinking Water quality meet the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive);
Practical implementation of the Directive (how have the requirements of the Directive been implemented in the Member States); and
Effectiveness of the Directive (i.e. is the Directive achieving what was intended when it was adopted)

4. WFD Reporting Obligations
Subject
Article
Report due date
Frequency/ Review
List of competent authorities
3.8/Annex I
22/06/04
3 months after change
Characterisation of RBD human activity/ economic analysis
5, 15.2,
22/03/05
22/12/13, every 6 years thereafter
Monitoring programmes
8, 15.2
22/03/07
RBMP
15.1
22/03/10
22/12/15, every 6 years thereafter
Register of Protected Areas 6
Progress on implementation of programme of measures
11, 15.3
Within 3 years of publication of RBMP

5. Future reporting needs
on water
Marine policy
Flood risk management
Links to other policy areas (eg. IPPC, soil, air, …)
Climate change and water policy
Legal transposition of the Directive (i.e. has the Directive been transposed into Member States’ legislation);
Compliance with the provisions of the Directive (e.g. does Drinking Water quality meet the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive);
Practical implementation of the Directive (how have the requirements of the Directive been implemented in the Member States); and
Effectiveness of the Directive (i.e. is the Directive achieving what was intended when it was adopted)

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

7. Introducing WISE
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

8. WISE aims
Efficient management of all water-related information on EU level
Coherence between various reporting mechanisms and needs
Access to information / data for various purposes and needs

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

10. Wider environmental reporting
Contribution to other initiatives:
Standardised reporting directive – revision under discussion
INSPIRE – Commission proposal adopted
Processes under other directives/policies (e.g. IPPC-EPER and PRTR)
Support from the highest levels:
Discussion and support in EPRG (Environmental Policy Review Group – MS Environmental Director Generals)
Endorsement by Water Directors

11. Common objective
The EU bodies (DG ENV, JRC, ESTAT and EEA) and EU25 Member States, Norway, Bulgaria and Romania agreed on the Water Directors’ meeting in November 2003 the:
“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”

12. What is WISE?
The “Water Information System for Europe” is:
an idea/vision (2002)
a concept (2003) – concept paper published on internet
a process (2003 …) – Working Group D on Reporting
a co-operation (between EU bodies and MS)
a set of tools (GIS, prototype, RTD, …)
an internet and “single entry” portal ( wise.jrc.cec.eu.int )
a definition of reporting requirements
a gateway for (public) information

13. Water Information System for Europe
WISE elements
Water Information System for Europe
WISE concept
Process
Tools
Components
WISE reporting
sheets
WISE prototype
WISE RTD web
WISE Compliance (WFD, UWWD, others)
WG Reporting
(WFD, UWWD, others)
WISE GIS
WISE GIS experts
Reference data
WISE / EIONET
Water

14. WISE scope
All water-related information linked to EU water policy
WFD, UWWT, Nitrates, Bathing Waters and Drinking Water Directives
Marine Strategy and Flood Action Programmes.
Eionet-Water
Relevant water research projects.
Link to international organisations (rivers/marine)
Provides the geo-referencing for data
an important building block for INSPIRE.
Proposed timetable
Available to the public in 2006
Fully operational by 2010.

16. WISE state-of-play
Input prototype online (
WFD reporting 2004 and 2005 (Art. 3+5) defined, 2007 reporting guidance under development
WFD 2004 reporting tool online, 2005 tool testing finalised
18 MS completed WISE reporting 2004, several MS have submitted 2005 data as part of testing
Screening studies completed to integrate other databases – UWWT and intercalibration
WISE GIS tools under development

17. WISE state-of-play
WISE Implementation Plan currently under preparation
Most important document to lay down the roadmap for water-related information and data-sharing
Document is to clarify and agree on “who does what on European level“ (internal character)
Final document can be used to ensure engagement from Member States (external character)
Three step process for WISE development

18. WISE current Now Member states WISE prototype Map Server Member states
EOINET water
Water base
Member states

19. WISE vision - 2006 Now 2006 Member states WISE prototype Map Server
EOINET water
Water base
Member states
2006
Member states
WISE prototype
Member states
Access
protocols
Member states
State of env’ment
Member states
WISE public
Member states
Inter calibrat’n
Member states
Member states
Urban WWD
Member states

20. WISE vision - 2010 Now 2006 2010 Member states WISE prototype
Map Server
Member states
Member states
EOINET water
Water base
Member states
2006
Member states
WISE prototype
Member states
Access
protocols
Member states
State of env’ment
Member states
WISE public
Member states
Inter calibrat’n
Member states
Member states
Urban WWD
Member states
2010
WFD, UWWD
WISE public
Push Pull
protocols
Access
protocols
EIONET Water
WISE expert
Member states
Member states
ESTAT
Other policies/ users
WISE analysis

21. WISE Implementation Plan 2006-2010 (1)
A desire to support a single stream of data.
A single data definition
Temporal and spatial integration
Support different frequencies for data collection
Coordinated data exchange standards
Move towards disaggregated data collection
Common standards for visualisation.
State of the Environment Reporting Drafting Group (under the CIS structure)

22. WISE Implementation Plan 2006-2010 (2)
Perceived success factors:
The co-operation of the Member States
EU25 and the EEA member countries
All Reporting Groups (WFD Compliance, UWWT, SOE and others)
Involvement of DG ENV, EEA, ESTAT, JRC, and buy in from International River Basin Commissions, etc.
Definition of base environmental data against which reporting is made
Provision of access to all information types
Numerical data (raw), ecological status (computed), thematic maps, reports, downloads, documents (e.g. methodologies),

23. WISE Implementation Plan 2006-2010 (3)
Involved JRC, DG Env, EEA and Eurostat
Based around EOINET and WISE prototype
WISE IP agreed, end 2005
WISE end-user workshop Dec 2005
End 2006 public launch full roll out
Basic steps
Conceptual and preparatory work
Detailed design and prototype
Development of upload facilities
Development of publication facilities
Roll out for other directives

24. Conceptual and preparatory work (first ideas)
Establish the user requirements including common information requirements (Task 1)
Protocols (Task 2)
a common “submissions” user interface including validation and system security (Task 2a)
automated data exchange between systems (Task 2b)
dissemination and publication of information to the broader user community. (Task 2c)
Organisation requirement to manage WISE (Task 3)

25. Detailed design stage (first ideas)
Test concepts for 2006 publication using existing WISE prototype (Task 4)
Detailed functional design (Task 5)
Submission tools and data exchange modules
Upgrade of existing Reportnet tools
Design of publication toolset
Design of common water information schema for water information (Task 6)
INSPIRE SDIC
Determination of the GIS standards required (Task 7)

26. Implement submission tools (first ideas)
Common entry point (Task 8)
Likely extension of ROD capabilities
Defining reporting requirement (Task 9)
Likely development of Data Dictionary facilities
Providing GIS capability
Data exchange modules (Task 10)
Extension of DEM to enable automatic validation and exchange

27. Implement harvesting tools (first ideas)
Develop shared Data Repository (Task 11)
Likely central dataset
Separate from master data
Development of publication module (Task 12)
Web viewer, GIS functionality, Data download, Analysis capability, Document repository, FAQs and graphical design
Develop system access protocols (task 13)
Access
Level of functionality

28. Tentative timetable for other Directives
Urban Water Water Treatment /6
Nitrate Directive – 2007
Bathing Waters Directive –2007/8
Drinking Water Directive –2007/8
Thereafter
Joint questionnaire
Marine strategy
Floods initiative

29. WISE process
Close co-ordination between European bodies (ENV, JRC, ESTAT and EEA)
Collaboration with Member States – needs to be strengthened in the future!
Spin off to linked activities (INSPIRE, GMES, env. Reporting, RTD)
Inclusion of new technologies
Development of WISE tools (reference data, internet prototype, GIS)
Agreement of reporting requirements (reporting sheets)

30. “Useful data/information”
aggregation rules
quality checks
communication tools between levels and layers
comparative analysis tools
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)
1 sub-basin
Regional
and local
tools
1 water body
1 monitoring station
Tools
1 sample
Layers
biology
pollutants
physico.
morphol.

31. Objectives for meeting
Make a step towards the development of WISE by:
Discussing the limitations of focussing on “mandatory” reporting only
Creating synergies between different reporting processes (WFD, UWWT)
Joining forces on development of tools and procedures
Identifying complementary reporting needs on voluntary basis are “common sense” to achieve WISE objectives
Improving engagement of MS experts in WISE development
Raising awareness of wider issues

32. Summary
WISE is the best way forward for water-related reporting
WISE Implementation Plan will be basis for future work – a long term roadmap
Joint process of EU bodies and MS is crucial for success
WISE conceptually fully integrated in wider environmental reporting discussion (incl. INSPIRE)

33. http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/ environment/water
More information
On water policy:
environment/water
WFD CIRCA Information Exchange Platform
Notes for the Speaker:
More information on the Directive, the implementation process and also the guidance documents are available on the internet.