Your gateway to European water information.
|
Implementing of the Floods Directive
Requirements of the Directive
As the Floods Directive has now entered into force the implementation
of the Directive is starting, and the timetable is clearly set out. The Directive which applies to all kinds
of floods (river, lakes, flash floods, urban floods, coastal
floods, including storm surges and tsunamis), on all of the
EU territory requires Member States to approach flood risk
management in a three stage process whereby :
- Member States will by 2011 undertake a preliminary
flood risk assessment of their river basins and associated
coastal zones, to identify areas where potential significant
flood risk exists.
- Where real risks of flood damage exist, they must by 2013
develop flood hazard maps and flood risk maps for such areas. These maps will identify areas with a medium
likely hood of flooding (at least a 1 in 100 year event)
and extreme events or low likelihood events, in which expected
water depths should be indicated. In the areas identified
as being at risk the number of inhabitants potentially at
risk, the economic activity and the environmental damage
potential shall be indicated.
- Finally, by 2015 flood risk management plans must
be drawn up for these zones. These plans are to include
measures to reduce the probability of flooding and its potential
consequences. They will address all phases of the flood
risk management cycle but focus particularly on prevention
(i.e. preventing damage caused by floods by avoiding
construction of houses and industries in present and future
flood-prone areas or by adapting future developments to
the risk of flooding), protection (by taking measures to
reduce the likelihood of floods and/or the impact of floods
in a specific location such as restoring flood plains and
wetlands) and preparedness (e.g. providing instructions
to the public on what to do in the event of flooding). Due
to the nature of flooding, much flexibility on objectives
and measures are left to the Member States in view of subsidiarity.
These steps need to be reviewed every 6 years in a cycle coordinated and synchronised with the Water Framework Directive(WFD) implementation cycle. The first milestone will be the
development of reporting formats by 2009 and the appointment
of competent authorities in spring 2010.
Use of existing flood risk management instruments available before 22.12.2010 fall under specific provisions
of the Directive (art 13, FD). Examples of existing flood
mapping practices is available in the European Flood Atlas
(part of the "Handbook on Flood mapping in Europe")
: Coming soon !
A strategy to support implementation
To support the implementation of the Directive a Working
Group on Floods has been established under the Common
Implementation Strategy. The Floods Working Group
workprogramme for 2008-9 is expected to focus on three
pillars :
- Floods Directive Implementation : Development of reporting
formats
- Water Framework Directive : towards joint implementation
with the Floods Directive
- Flood risk management information exchange
The development of reporting formats responds to the
requirement of the Directive, and it is envisaged that this
reporting will be carried out via WISE
(Water Information System for Europe), available at :
water.europa.eu Examples of information currently reported
to WISE in relation to other Directives (WFD, Urban Waste
Water, Bathing Water) are available in the WISE
viewer
Further information on the role
of information exchange, including some results of
this information change is available on this site. The themes
selected for further information exchange are : sustainable
land use practices, climate change, flood forecasting/flash
flooding, flood mapping, preliminary flood risk assessment
and integrated river basin management/links with the Water
Framework Directive. These themes relate to important.
Links to other Community instruments
and initiatives
The management of flood risks is a crucial component of climate change adaptation,
and the Directive requires that member States take climate
change this into account in the preliminary flood risk assessment,
depending on their specific needs.
Other pieces of Community legislation are closely
linked to the implementation of the Floods Directive, in particular
:
Other relevant policies and initatives are :
|
