Water Framework Directive (WFD)

The Water Framework Directive (WFD), Directive 2000/60/EC, is the EU framework for protecting and managing inland, transitional, coastal, and groundwater through river basin management. It requires member states to classify surface waters into five ecological status classes, high, good, moderate, poor, and bad, set against undisturbed reference conditions, with the worst biological element fixing overall status under the one-out-all-out rule. The headline objective was good ecological and chemical status, originally by 2015 with cycles to 2027. Assessment integrates biological quality elements such as phytoplankton and benthos with physico-chemical and hydromorphological support. River basin management plans and programs of measures are the delivery instruments. The marine analogue is the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC.