WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE

It falls upon the Member States to determine the practical measures which they include in their programmes in order to achieve the objectives set forth by the Water Framework Directive and by the implementing measures adopted in compliance with subsequently adopted strategies.
Member States actions rely on river basin district management plans within the context of which integrated programmes of measures are implemented. As the management plans (1) must include a summary of the programmes of measures (2), the objectives of which they nevertheless set forth, the preparation of both documents needs to be coordinated.

Management plans (first plans before 22/12/2009, reviews by 2015)
A river basin management plan is established for each river basin district (Article 13(1)) and includes relevant elements for implementing the applicable legislation, most notably the results of the above-mentioned analyses (Annex VII). In addition to a general description of the characteristics of the river basin district and of the location of water bodies and of protected areas, the plan primarily includes a summary of the significant pressures and impacts of human activity on the status of surface waters and groundwater, a list of environmental objectives, a summary of the economic analysis and one of the programmes of measures (see below).
River basin district management plans and related works must be made available to the public, as well as their updates. Indeed, individuals and interested parties have a right to be actively involved in the implementation of the directive and, in particular, in the production, review and updating of river basin management plans.
River basin management plans must be “published at the latest nine years after the date of entry into force of this directive” (2009) and must be “reviewed and updated at the latest 15 years after the date of entry into force of this directive” (2015).

Programmes of measures (first programmes by 2006)
The programmes of measures do not have the same degree of specificity as the management plans since they “may make reference to measures following from legislation adopted at national level and covering all of the territory of a Member State” or apply to all river basin districts or portions of international river basin districts within a Member State’s territory (Article 11(1)). Those programmes constitute “the basic planning instruments for responding to identified pressures on bodies of water concerned” which take into account the results of the analyses and reviews required under article 5. They include “basic measures” considered as the minimum requirements to be complied with (article 11 (3) and where necessary “supplementary measures” (article 11 (4). Those programmes include measures pertaining to the application of rules specific to bathing waters, wild birds, drinking water, major accidents, sewage sludge, plant protection products, nitrates of agricultural sources..., in short, to any relevant legislations (Article 11 and Annex VI). In this regard, the Court rightly points out “in adopting programmes of measures (…) the Member States must not only achieve the environmental objectives relating to water (…) but also ensure compliance with the European legislation relating to the protected areas” , especially to avoid any deterioration of the protected areas such as protected areas covered by directive 92/43/EEC. In case-559/19, the Court concluded that the Commission “has adequately demonstrated the likelihood that excessive water abstraction for urban supply for the tourist area of Matalascanas has caused significant disturbance to the protected habitats of the protected area of Donana located in the vicinity of the tourist centre of Matalascanas” .
In addition to the implementation of programmes of measures, the WFD also provides the adoption of programmes for monitoring of water status (article 8) which shall be operational at the latest 6 years after the date of entry into force of the WFD (2006).