1. Commission activities
WG Groundwater
2 October 2014, Rome
Balázs Horváth
DG Environment

2. Commission Directive amending Annex II of the Groundwater Directive 2006/118/EC
Commission Directive 2014/80/EU amending Annex II to Directive 2006/118/EC was published in the EU Official Journal on 21 June
It entered into force on 11 July
It should be transposed to national legislations until 11 July 2016
Please find the different language versions here:

3. Reporting (1) Guidance adopted by Water Directors on 6th June 2014
Three Member States given the possibility of making technical comments on the adopted document
Commission to incorporate comments when feasible, proceed to a general consistency check and check compliance with INSPIRE

4. Reporting (2)
Version 4.0, taking into account comments received, was distributed to SCG and WG DIS in July 2014
Version 5.0, after consistency check and INSPIRE compliance check, will be discussed at the WG DIS on October 2014
Comments from WG DIS will be incorporated in a revised version in November 2014
The reporting guidance and supporting tools will be tested by voluntary Member States in January-March 2015
The final guidance, taking into account the results of the texting phase, will be distributed in June 2015

5. Establishment of 1st Watch List under the Priority Substances Directive
Joint Research Centre has been gathering data to draft technical report
Draft report (including possible short-list) to be discussed at WG Chemicals October (on CIRCABC soon…)
COM proposal will be drafted on basis of the report/discussions
Consultations in November/December
Article 21 Committee vote on 12 February 2015
Adoption of Commission Decision by end February 2015

6. EU workshop on the development of a strategic approach to pollution of water by pharmaceutical substances
Brussels, 11 September 2014
Final aim is to develop a strategic approach to pollution of water by pharmaceutical substances by the end of 2015
Background document: a study on environmental risks from medicinal products carried out recently for DG SANCO by BIO IS:
Summary of the results of the workshop are coming soon  

7. Water reuse public consultation
Reuse of water (e.g. from waste water treatment or industrial installations) is considered to have a lower environmental impact than other alternative water supplies (e.g. water transfers or desalination), but it is only used to a limited extent in the EU due to the lack of common EU environmental/health standards for reused water and the potential obstacles to the free movement of agricultural products irrigated with reused water.
Commission looking for the most suitable EU-level instrument to encourage water reuse and in 2015 intends to make a proposal
Public consultation is open until 7 November in
WG PoMs is regularly consulted on the issue
More info:

8. State of play – Water reuse
BIO Intelligence on-going contract until end 2014
Task 1 – Review previous work, finalise methodology (scope, problem definition, baseline scenario) and identify policy options
Scope of the study:
Reuse of urban wastewater that is treated after collection and has been subject to secondary treatment (at least)
Reuse of industrial wastewater for external purposes
For various types of applications, e.g.:
agricultural uses, urban uses, industrial uses, environmental uses, recreational uses
Not covered by this study: reuse of rainwater or greywater
JRC report on water reuse just uploaded to CIRCABC under the PoM group – comments possible until 24/10 8 8 8 8

9. Potential EU-level measures
No action: no policy change
Non-binding measures aimed at improving: the implementation/enforcement of pricing, controls of abstractions and integrated water management, promotion of upcoming ISO/CEN water reuse standards, promotion of risk-based approaches for regulating water reuse.
Binding standards on water reuse and/or binding framework for water reuse practices on the basis of a risk-based approach in order to maximise water reuse, where necessary, and to provide a clear framework for managing health and environmental risks related to water reuse practices. This could encompass elements such as risk management plans, treatment standards, treatment process controls, application controls and water quality benchmarks, possible requirement to consider and/or establish targets on water reuse in the context of integrated water management where relevant, etc.
Information, communication and knowledge enhancement measures including EU guidance development, knowledge sharing and awareness raising actions targeting the general public and the practitioners.
To reinforce the achievement of the main objectives, the above options could be combined, e.g. information, communication and knowledge enhancements measures could accompany the non-binding or binding measures. 9 9 9 9

10. Impact assessment of the identified policy options
Next steps
Impact assessment of the identified policy options
Public consultations launched (questionnaire + background document) – 30 July 2014 – 7 November 2014(
Stakeholders meeting – November 2014
Completion of IA (proposal of an EU level instrument on water reuse) – December 2014
EC Impact Assessment Board – Spring 2015
Commission proposal of an EU-level instrument on water reuse (if justified) – end 2015 10 10 10 10

11. Water balances
Next meeting of the WG on Water Accounts – 21 October 2014 in Brussels
The main objective – to discuss the first draft guidance document on water balances
It should be ensured that the guidance on water balances is in line with the principles and guidances on GW quantitative status
There will be a possibility to comment on the guidance between November and January
Would there be volunteers from the WG GW to take care of the above?

12. Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) – Progress so far
Agreed that the WG PoM deliverable will be a short policy document (in addition to knowledge exchange).
Held so far 3 sessions in WG PoMs on NWRM (shared experiences, discussed description/definition, aspects and examples, achieved common understanding)
Drafting team formed to work on the policy document
Draft Policy Document was sent to WG PoM and WG Floods for consultation in July – comments received by September

13. Aim and Contents of Policy Document
To explain the policy relevance of Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) stimulate their uptake as effective means for achieving water and other environmental policy objectives.
To facilitate coordination with other policy makers for joined action
- Target group: water managers / decision makers at the national, regional and local levels.
- High level not technical but it refers to the technical and scientific evidence of the performance of NWRM that has been produced in the EC Pilot Project

14. Structure / Contents of Document
Executive summary
Aim and target group of this policy document
What can you achieve with NWRM? (types of measures and expected benefits)
Policy Relevance of NWRM (WFD, FD, other Environmental Policy, Agriculture Policy)
Recommendations on making NWRM operational
Conclusions

15. NWRM – Next Steps
Paper is under revision based on the comments received. Revised version to be shared with WG PoM and WG Floods (Oct 3rd).
NWRM session in the next WG Floods Workshop. Feedback on revised paper from the next WG Floods Meeting (Oct 10th)
A session on NWRM and discussion on the revised version will take place in the next WG PoM meeting (Oct 14th)
Final revision of the paper to be send to SCG by October 25th (for the Nov 5th -6th meeting)
Final version to water directors by November 15th (for the Nov meeting)

16. Workshop on nature, biodiversity, marine and water
Brussels, 2-3 December
SCG level participation
The workshop will focus on implementation issues. Three main areas for discussion:
Objectives and exemptions
Monitoring and reporting
Measures and public participation
Background paper will be available in November
Potential WG GW link through the GWDE work

17. Water services case
Judgement of the European Court of Justice was issued in the case COM vs DE on the concept of ‘water services’, you can find the judgement here:

18. PAs and OPs
16 out of 28 Partnership Agreements (PA) adopted (DK, DE, PL, EL, LV, LT, EE, CY, SK, PT, RO, BG, FR, NL, CZ, HU) and COM is now analysing the official PAs received from the other 12 Member States, as well as draft Cohesion Policy Operational Programmes (OPs) from all countries outlining their investment plans for EU Structural and Investment Funds for the programming period
Ex-ante conditionalities on water: in case of non-compliance or partial compliance with the ex-ante conditionalities, MS are expected to submit an Action Plan on how to achieve the compliance. The Commission expects a clear commitment from relevant MS to address the shortcomings identified (in most cases we expect MS to address the shortcomings in the 2nd RBMPs). The deadline for complying with the ex-ante conditionality is 31 Dec 2016 at the latest. In case, this is not achieved, there is a possibility of blocking the EU funds.

19. Key issues assessed by the Commission in the commenting/approval process of PAs/OPs
The selection of priority issues for funding in line with the RBMPs, PoM, sectoral directives (UWWTD, DWD, etc.) and FD.
The selection of priority issues for funding in line with COM assessment of MS RBMPs and conclusions of bilateral meetings (e.g. if monitoring is flagged as non-compliant with WFD, we would expect the relevant MS to propose this kind of measures for funding).
Major projects and projects in other sectors, in particular in transport (e.g. navigation projects) and energy (e.g. hydropower development) have to be compliant with the WFD, in particular an assessment in accordance with Art. 4(7) has to be carried out, if relevant.
Financial allocations to be adequate to the needs in the water sector in order to avoid potential non-compliance cases (e.g. with the UWWTD and consequently WFD)
Floods Directive – we expect MS to put a priority on natural water retention measures as much as feasible.

20. Objectives The three key objectives of the EIP:
- to facilitate the development of innovative solutions to deal with water challenges
- to create (market) demand for these solutions
- to contribute to the implementation of water policy through innovative solutions

21. EIP Water – Groundwater opportunities
Show your innovative solutions/demonstrations on the EIP Water Market Place:
New call for expression of commitment to form Action Groups (no EU funding) – To be opened on 5 Nov. '14
Focus on:
Underrepresented EIP Water priority areas such as Ecosystem Services
Actors from central and eastern European MS
Horizon 2020 call (water innovation focus area)
Call open on 10 Dec '14
Total funding 45 million euro
Demonstration projects linked to EIP Water priority areas

22. 5 November '14, Barcelona (European Innovation Capital)
High level innovation speakers, sessions on linking WFD implementation to innovative solutions and on removing barriers to innovation, update and presentation of EIP water Action Groups
6 November – 9 site visits to state of the art innovative water facilities in and around Barcelona
6 November – 10 open back to back meetings of related water innovation organizations
Information and registration:

23. 2015 COM interim report on the progress in the implementation of the Programmes of Measures
Legal basis: Art 18.4 WFD
Format: COM communication and accompanying Commission Staff Working Documents (CSWDs)
Sources of information: assessment of the Member States interim reports provided in 2012, findings of the bilateral meetings…
Timelines: the report is planned to be published before the 4th EU Water Conference (23-24 March 2015)

24. Structure of the documents
A chapeau communication
CSWD on the technical assessment of the PoM interim reports
CSWD on Preliminary Flood Risk Assessments and Flood Hazard and Risk Maps
5 CSWDs on MS whose RBMPs were not assessed in 2012 under the Blueprint
COM communication
CSWD
on PoMs
on FD
5 CSWDs
on BE, EL, ES, HR, PT RBMPs

25. 4th European Water Conference
Brussels, 23–24 March 2015
Focus: implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive in light of the public consultation of the draft RBMPs and FRMPs
Some observations based on the 2nd draft plans
More details are coming in November