1. Draft topic report on WS&D aspects in a selection of EU RBMPs
Brussels, June 2011

2. State of play regarding the RBMP assessment on WS&D
CONTENTS
State of play regarding the RBMP assessment on WS&D
Findings of the Draft Topic Report
Comments & discussion; next steps

3. 11 MS: UK, SE, FI, LT, LV, CZ, SK, BU, DE, NL & FR
Assessment exercise
11 MS: UK, SE, FI, LT, LV, CZ, SK, BU, DE, NL & FR
Starting 6 MS: IT, EE, BE, HU, RO & PL
8 thematic issues: Occurrence, causes, effects, datasets (availability and demand; now and trend), PoM (incl. policy interlinkages), data quality, transboundary.

4. OCCURRENCE OF DROUGTHS
FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
OCCURRENCE OF DROUGTHS

5. OCCURRENCE OF WATER SCARCITY
FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
OCCURRENCE OF WATER SCARCITY

6. CAUSES OF WATER SCARCITY
FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
CAUSES OF DROUGTHS
- Irregular rainfall patterns
6 RBMPs have also argued past and current water (over)allocation and new water demands as a cause for drought situations.
CAUSES OF WATER SCARCITY
Irregular rainfall patterns and a decrease in natural available water resources.
Only 9 RBMPs recognise past and current (over)allocation of resources as a cause of water scarcity problems.
13-18 plans identify different new water demands as cause for upcoming water scarcity problems
Overall lack of analysis of causes (16 RBDs affected by any kind of WS)

7. EFFECTS OF WATER SCARCITY AND DROUGTHS
FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
EFFECTS OF WATER SCARCITY AND DROUGTHS
Urban or domestic water supply shortages (reported in14 RBD’s due to droughts and in 25 RBD’s due to water scarcity)
- Environmental effects (e.g. degradation of surface water quality or wetlands degradation or disappearance) are the main identified effects of WS&D (occurring in RBD’s)
Hindrance to the potential economic development (dependence on new/external water resources) has only been reported for 2 RBD’s; an increased groundwater (over-)abstraction is much more relevant, reported for RBD’s.
Economic losses, mainly in the agricultural sector, have only been reported in 2 RBMP’s
- In 6 cases, some evidence has been found that water scarcity/drought are being used as an ex-ante argument to justify exemptions from achieving environmental objectives

8. WATER DEMAND TREND SCENARIOS
FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
WATER DEMAND TREND SCENARIOS
- No data on future water demand and water availability trend scenarios have been included in almost 50% of the RBMP’s
WATER AVAILABILITY TREND SCENARIOS

9. MEASURES TO DEAL WITH WS&D
FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
MEASURES TO DEAL WITH WS&D
Top-Five List
Reduction/management of groundwater abstraction
Studies, research and pilot projects.
Training, education and capacity building
Reduction of urban network losses and
Development of DMP’s
Other insights
Metering, pricing/subsidies and water consumption restrictions are much less considered
Measures to enhance resilience of the ecosystems are only reflected in 25% of the RBMP’s
In-depth analysis and better dissemination of good practices examples should take place for better water planning in the future

10. FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
INTER-LINKAGES BETWEEN WS AND SECTOR POLICIES
The influence of other sector policies on the reduction of WS and the mitigation of D effects is not described in any of the RBMP’s; no measures are proposed to harmonize those policies with that reduction/mitigation.
At only 15% of the assessed plans, the pressures on water resources by sector at present and in the future are identified

11. FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
QUALITY OF DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS
The screening exercise reflects a significant number of unclear or not-transparent datasets for water quantity aspects of the RBMP’s: data sources (incl. timespan), assumptions, uncertainty of data or impact of measures, account for possible social conflicts by implementing PoM, inter-linkages between measures, etc.

12. FINDINGS OF THE TOPIC REPORT
TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION ON WS&D
In more than 50% of the RBMP’s, the information is not clear, no information found or not relevant
Less than a 5% of the RBMP’s include coordinated measures for the entire international RBD.
In 20% of the RBMP’s, joint challenges are identified and in another 20% it is dealt with as a general coordination issue

13. CONCLUSIONS
From the screened set of 68 RBMP’s the following conclusions may arise:
• WS and D are relevant across the EU, though much more clarity is needed to understand the phenomena and their causes.
• The datasets on water quantity are insufficient to plan proactively, and the quality of data is limited (e.g. only in 40% of the RBMP’s the sources of data for present water consumption and for water availability are explicitly mentioned)
• PoMs still need to improve significantly in order to develop coherent and effective sets of measures.
• Water supply measures are significantly stronger reflected than restrictions of pressures or measures to ensure the achievement of the environmental WFD objectives under WS&D conditions.
• In international basins, there is still a major gap to deal with water quantity in a way that reduces conflict risks and contributes to the WFD’s environmental objectives.