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The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the main piece of environmental legislation concerning the protection and improvement of water quality across the UK and the member states of the European Union.
The Water Framework Directive in Ireland
Recent rulings by the Irish High Court and the European Court of Justice have pushed Water Framework Directive (WFD) compliance to the forefront of environmental regulation in Ireland, with significant implications for the planning and development sector. In several high-profile cases, the courts have delayed or quashed proposed developments due to inadequate assessment of potential impacts on water bodies. A clear signal that WFD assessments are now a legal necessity.
These decisions underline a growing demand for clear, evidence-based evaluations of how projects will avoid causing deterioration to any WFD supporting element – not just water quality, but also hydro-morphology, biology, and ecological status. Developers, planners, and consultants must now engage more thoroughly with the WFD as part of the planning and Appropriate Assessment process.
What is a Water Framework Directive Assessment?
A Water Framework Directive Assessment (WFDA) answers the following questions:
- What water bodies should be considered in the assessment?
- Will the proposed development result in deterioration of water status?
- Will the proposed development jeopardise the achievement of good water status?
- Is the proposed development compatible with the WFD programme of measures?
What criteria need to be met?
The WFD is prescriptive in assessing all types of water bodies, considering ecological status (i.e. condition of elements such as phytoplankton, plants, fish, macrophytes), physiochemical issues (e.g. nutrients and oxygen levels) and hydromorphology (physical conditions like water flow and the shape of water bodies).
In combination, these factors are vital for aquatic ecosystems, with changes in these conditions affecting the plants, invertebrates and fish that the WFD aims to protect. Therefore, WFD assessment is a complex and time-consuming process.
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The WFD takes an integrated, catchment-based approach that includes different water categories such as lakes, rivers, transitional waters, coastal waters, and groundwater.
Under the WFD, waters are classified into five quality classes. At the latest, all water bodies must achieve ‘Good’ status by 2027. No deterioration in water status is permitted, meaning waters assessed as ‘High’ or ‘Good’ need to retain that status permanently.
Shane O’Boyle, Divisional Director of AQUAFACT (part of APEM Group)
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How should clients approach WFD assessments?
Due to the specific interactions of a proposed scheme and the local environment, each WFD assessment is unique, requiring a different focus of attention and assessment. Broadly, developers should gain support to:
- Assess whether a development would cause deterioration or prevent achievement of ‘Good’ or ‘High’ status, and provide evidence of that judgement
- Make changes to plans, including mitigation measures, if any WFD supporting element will be affected (such as water quality).
- Consider additions and enhancements to the environmental monitoring programme with additional measures that add nature-positive benefits to improve water quality or habitat restoration.
How can APEM Group and AQUAFACT help?
Our uniqueness lies in our ability to understand and assess across the full range of potential WFD quality elements, given the strength and breadth of our specialist teams that cover all elements of aquatic science, hydro-ecology, fisheries biology and marine ecology.
APEM Group have significant experience of working on various aspects of WFD implementation, from providing monitoring support to assisting with the development of WFD assessment methods. In the UK, APEM Group have undertaken hundreds of WFD Assessments across the water, energy, renewables and aquaculture sectors.
We offer impact assessment (including WFD deterioration assessment) services across the full range of potential WFD considerations, from freshwater projects with potential to affect flows and riverine hydromorphology (and the dependent ecological WFD supporting elements), to marine dredge projects with potential to mobilise sediment chemistry and smother sensitive marine benthic habitats.
APEM Group deliver WFD projects at all scales, from small riparian developments (e.g. an outfall repair) up to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) such as new nuclear power. We are familiar with the different WFD classification regimes and the different WFD assessment approaches (and guidance) adopted in the freshwater and marine (transitional and coastal) environments.
We work across all sectors on projects with the potential for infrastructure to interact with the aquatic environment. These might include residential and industrial development, power (onshore and offshore), all scales of licensed abstraction (including large, strategic scale new water company abstraction), flood defence, nearshore ports, and international cables.
Trusted by regulators
In the UK, APEM Group have developed specific tools in collaboration with England’s Environment Agency to allow characterisation of disturbance of contaminated sediments (in-situ sediment concentrations) to WFD water quality thresholds, which are now applied routinely in the assessment of large estuarine development and capital dredge WFD assessments. We are a trusted supplier of WFD assessments not just to developers, but also directly to the Environment Agency when they are obliged to undertake WFD assessment of planned flood defence capital works.
Next steps
To find out more about the Water Framework Directive in Ireland or the UK, get in touch with us via our contact page.
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