River basin management plans are a management tool in
integrated water resources management
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightl ...
. They generally contain descriptions of the
water resources in a
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
and water allocation plans.
Europe
River Basin Management Plans are a requirement of the
Water Framework Directive
The Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC is an EU directive which commits European Union member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies (including marine waters up to one nautical mile from shore) by 2015. ...
and a means of achieving the protection, improvement and sustainable use of the water environment across Europe. This includes surface freshwaters (including lakes, streams and rivers), groundwater, ecosystems such as some wetlands that depend on groundwater, estuaries and coastal waters out to one nautical mile.
The Directive requires
member states to aim to achieve at least ''good status'' in each
water body
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as p ...
within their
river basin districts. Each member state must produce a plan for each of the river basin districts within its territory.
Plans must include: objectives for each water body; reasons for not achieving objectives where relevant; and the programme of actions required to meet the objectives.
River Basin Management Plans were published for several member states in December 2010.
River basin management in a changing climate - a Guidance document
In November 2009, Water Directors of EU Member States issued a guidance document on
adaptation to climate change in water management. The document is the first result of numerous actions included in the European Commission White Paper ''Adapting to climate change; Towards a European framework for action''. The document includes guidance on how to take climate change into account in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the
Floods Directive and the Strategy on
Water Scarcity
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is whe ...
and
Drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
s.
See also
*
Detention basin
A detention basin or retarding basin is an excavated area installed on, or adjacent to, tributaries of rivers, streams, lakes or bays to protect against flooding and, in some cases, downstream erosion by storing water for a limited period of time. ...
*
Murray-Darling Basin Plan,
References
{{reflist
External links
The Water Framework Directive in England and Wales- Environment Agency
River basin planning in Scotland- Scottish Environment Protection Agency
River basin management in a changing climate - a Guidance document(pdf 2.1MB)
Water resources management
River regulation