36
The News N° 24 - March 2014
EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE
➤
Water Framework Directive
and pollution by hazardous
substances discharged
into aquatic environments
For 14 months, France and Austria have
successfully implemented this European
twinning agreement with Croatia.
The closing ceremony took place in the pres-
tigious hall of the Croatian Chamber of Eco-
nomy on 5 July 2013 in Zagreb, illustrating
the partnership forged with the interested
parties in the effort needed to reduce the dis-
charges of hazardous substances.
Many sectors of activity are producing or
using these hazardous substances and
release them into the environment: industry,
agriculture, but also urban infrastructure and
equipments, hospital and medical activities,
craftsmanship and even domestic activities.
The European Directive on hazardous subs-
tances requires that those are:
n
Banned for the most dangerous of them,
n
Subject to measures to protect us from
them and especially to reduce their dis-
charges for the others.
The twinning agreement has thus supported
the Croatian partners at different levels:
n
Inventory of substances used and
discharged,
and of their presence in sur-
face water, groundwater and marine
waters;
n
Adaptation of the monitoring net-
work
to the problem of hazardous subs-
tances;
n
Installation of new performing ana-
lysis equipment,
with a budget of
€
400,000 provided by the EU through
the project;
n
Development of quality assurance
procedures and tools
to ensure the
reliability and representativeness of the
results. The National Laboratory, which
benefited from capacity building, received
its accreditation during the project!;
n
Improvement of governance, use
and exchanges of data between the
different partners.
The Croatian institutions, beneficiaries of this
project, were mainly the Ministry of Agricul-
ture and the Croatian Water Company. On the
French and Austrian sides, the twinning part-
ners are: the French Ministry of Ecology, Sus-
tainable Development and Energy (MEDDE),
the International Office for Water,
the
National Institute for the Environment and
Industrial Risks (INERIS), the National Labora-
tory of the Environment (ESA), the Geological
and Mining Research Center (BRGM), the
French Water Agencies, as well as the Aus-
trian Environment Agency (UBA) and the Aus-
trian Ministry of Agriculture, Environment,
Forestry and Water.
A total of forty French and Austrian experts
worked together with their Croatian col-
leagues to carry out the activities of this twin-
ning agreement, which are a powerful boost
for exchange and progress.
➤
Flood Directive
Austria, France and the Netherlands are
implementing the European twinning
on the Flood Directive in Croatia.
Adopted in 2007, the Flood Directive
imposes its schedule to the four countries par-
ticipating in the twinning agreement, thus
providing rich exchanges and allowing Croa-
tia to adjust its practices to higher levels by
benefiting from the methodological develop-
ment efforts made by the most advanced
countries.
The Directive schedule, which will be syn-
chronized with that of the Water Framework
Directive, thus plans the following deadlines
for the 3 stages of preparation of Flood Risk
Management Plans to be developed in each
hydrographic basin / unit:
l
Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment
(PFRA)
with selection of
Areas with
Significant Potential Flood Risk
(ASPFR)
by December 2011;
l
Hazard and risk mapping of ASPFR
by December 2013;
l
Flood Risk Management Plan (FRMP)
including its Program of Measures by
December 2015.
The 15-month project particularly focuses on
the mapping of flood risk in two priority pilot
areas: The Kupa on the Black Sea Basin and
the delta of the Neretva, an Adriatic River
with specific flood characteristics.
IOWater
is in charge of the training program,
which proposes to support the preparation of
the Flood Risk Management Plan (FRMP) with
its Program of Measures and associated eco-
nomic analysis.
On the French side, in addition to the
IOWa-
ter’s
action on behalf of the Ministry of Eco-
logy, Sustainable Development and Energy,
the support from the Mediterranean Technical
Research Center of Public Works (CEREMA), is
valuable and appreciated.
4
Croatia
European institutional twinning agreements
with the 28
th
Member State
for better water management
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
Closing meeting of the "hazardous
substances" twinning agreement
