On December 22nd 2000, the Directive 2000/60/EG of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy was published in the Official Journal of the European Community. This Directive is shortly named Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The aim of the Directive is to preserve the good status basically in all surface water and ground water bodies, or to reach it by appropriate measures until 2015. As regards the ground water, the quality and quantity shall be monitored. Regarding the surface water, which consist of rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters, the difference shall be made between their chemical and ecological status.

The philosophy of the WFD is based on the fact that the resource water shall be protected more sustainably than before, in the form of an integrated and holistic approach. Special attention shall explicitly be paid to the existing water uses thereby. General public shall be actively included into this process. High transparency level should facilitate to enhance the acceptance of the decisions.

Other main points of the Directive are the following:

The management of the river basins

Consistent standards on the European level

Consideration of socioeconomic circumstances

One of the mile stones in the implementation of this Directive is the river basin management plan, which should be set up 9 years after coming into force and was published for the river basin district Weser on December 22nd 2009. All crucial detailed steps are presented therein in a compiled form and the program of measures is also included.