Lake Management in Italy: the Implications of the Water Framework Directive
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Lakes & Reservoirs: Research and Management 2003 8: 41–59 Lake management in Italy: the implications of the Water Framework Directive G. Premazzi1*, A. Dalmiglio2, A. C. Cardoso1 and G. Chiaudani3 1Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 21020, Ispra, Italy, 2Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente della Lombardia, Regione Lombardia, 20100, Milan, Italy, and 3 Biology Department, University of Milan, 20100, Milan, Italy Abstract This paper constitutes the first consideration of the implications of the lake management in Italy arising from the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), in comparison to the provisions of existing national legislation. As a matter of fact, the Italian decrees anticipated the principles of the WFD and have substantially modified the legislation in the field of water in Italy. Important changes were introduced, both in the monitoring systems and in the classification methods for surface waters. The environmental quality status will be determined not only by monitoring the aqueous matrix, but also the sediment and the biota. The new WFD is the major piece of European Union (EU) legislation with environment at its core; it will guide the efforts for attaining a sustainable aquatic environment in the years to come. In the WFD one can see elements from all the different forces that guided the reform of EU water policy: environmental protection, deregulation and subsidiarity. Moreover, elements of the economic instruments approach (introduction of the cost recovery principle), quantitative con- cerns (setting of minimum flow objectives for rivers and abstraction limits for ground waters) and the quest for integration (river basin management with representation of all stakeholders) are all reflected in the WFD. The paper summarizes the present condition of the most important lakes in the Italian lake district and also highlights the case of Lake Varese, representing a unique case of lake management in Italy. Preliminary results show that there are very few examples dealing with the elements thought appropriate to lake water assessment as required by the WFD. The application of the objectives of the type specified is a largely unknown issue. Key words ecological water status, European Union Water Framework Directive, Italian water legislation, lake management, subalpine lakes. BASIC LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR WATER 2. Legislative decree number 258/00 (Decreto Legislativo QUALITY PROTECTION IN ITALY 2000), which concerns the protection of water from In Italy the regions are charged with water monitoring pollution and integrates thoroughly some topics of the activities and the central government is empowered with legislative decree 152/99 (Decreto Legislativo 1999). For supervision, coordination and regulation tasks. The basic the first time in Italy, the two decrees set environmental legal framework for water quality protection and monitoring and functional objectives for water bodies. is established by: 3. Law 183/89 (Repubblica Italiana 1989) which establishes 1. Legislative decree number 152/99, which transposes river basins as the unit where environmental protection the European Union (EU) Directives 91/271/EEC and activities have to be designed and performed, and creates 91/676/EEC, and defines the main requirements for river basin authorities. water quality monitoring in inland waters, coastal waters, 4. Law 36/94 (Repubblica Italiana 1994a) which concerns estuaries and lagoons (Decreto Legislativo 1999). the reorganization of the public services that are charged with water abstraction, water supply and distribution, and waste water treatment. *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] 5. Law 61/94(Repubblica Italiana 1994b) which relates to Accepted for publication 29 November 2002. the reorganization of environmental controls and the 42 G. Premazzi et al. Table1. Classification of the lakes’ ecological status† Parameters CLASS 1 CLASS 2 CLASS 3 CLASS 4 CLASS 5 (high) (good) (moderate) (poor) (bad) Transparency (m) >5 Յ5 Յ2 Յ1.5 Յ1 Hypolimnetic oxygen (% saturation) >80 Ն80 Յ60 Ն40.0 Յ20 Chlorophyll (µg/L) <3 Յ6 >10 Յ25.0 >25 Total phosphorus (µg/L) <10 Յ25 Յ50 Յ100.0 >100 †See Decreto Legislativo (1999). Table2. The main chemical compounds monitored in surface characterization, discharge (point and diffuse) impact assess- inland waters† ment and post-pollution incidents. Both of the decrees anticipated the principles of Inorganic Organic the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (European cadmium aldrin Communities 2000) and have substantially modified the total chromium dieldrin legislation in the field of water in Italy. Important changes mercury endrin were introduced, both in the monitoring systems and in the nickel isodrin classification methods for surface waters. The environmental lead DDT‡ quality status will be determined not only by monitoring the copper hexachlorobenzene aqueous matrix, but also the sediment and the biota, the zinc hexachlorocyclohexane latter intended both as accumulator of harmful substances hexachlorobutadiene and recorder/integrator of environmental pressures. trichlorobenzene The new monitoring system consists of two steps: a chloroform cognitive phase and a full operational phase. In the first perchloroethylene phase (two-year duration), general information should be pentachlorophenol gathered regarding surface water bodies, in order to be tetrachloromethane acquainted with the lake and its environmental conditions trichloroethylene (for example, pressures from the catchment). This evalu- 1,2 dichloroethane ation will permit the establishment of a monitoring plan, and thus, the definition of the minimum number of sampling †See Decreto Legislativo (1999); ‡DDT, 1, 1, 1 trichloro-2, 2 bis points (depending on the lake size), the identification of (4-chlorophenyl) ethane. the criteria for selection of the sampling location and the sampling frequency. National Agency for Environmental Protection and All lakes with a surface area Ն0.5 km2 should be monit- Regional Agencies ored. For lakes with a surface area <80 km2, the sampling A reorganization of the administrative system for river point coincides with that of the maximum depth of the water management has recently taken place in Italy, partly as a body. However, by default, in the absence of bathymetric result of recognition of the growing importance of taking an maps, it could be located at the centre of the lake. For lakes integrated approach to environmental management. River with a surface area >80 km2 or of irregular configuration (for basin authorities have been set up covering six basins of example, forming bays or arms), the sampling points are national importance (the largest and most important one is fixed on a case-by-case basis. In each of the fixed sampling that of the Po River), as well as 15 regional and 17 inter- stations, chosen with respect to the desired information and regional basins. in conformity to local conditions, at least three sampling The responsibility for environmental protection and depths should be considered: 1 m from the lake surface, 1 m monitoring has been largely devolved from the national above the lake bottom and a depth in the middle of the level to the regions, provided that the minimum require- water column. For shallow lakes (z max Յ5 m) the number ments of the national legislation are satisfied. The design of of samples within the water column are reduced to two monitoring programmes is undertaken at the local level, on (surface and bottom). For lakes deserving particular pro- a case-by-case basis. The range and extent of programmes tection and safeguarding, the sampling profile should be may vary but local monitoring can be divided into different much more detailed. As an example, the monitoring pro- categories, such as trend detection and general quality gramme undertaken in the deepest Italian lake, Como, Italy’s Water Framework Directive 43 intended as a strategic water body for the abstraction of water body shall be determined by its ecological and chem- drinking water and of particular environmental value, ical status, and classified accordingly to the five classes set includes six different stations for a total of 62 sampling out in Table 3. depths; only the water column at the maximum depth (410 m) is described by 12 sampling depths. BASIC FEATURES OF THE WATER The operational phase indicates that monitoring FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE programmes could take place at a reduced frequency and The new WFD is the major piece of EU legislation with at a limited number of sampling stations for only basic environment at its core and it will guide efforts for attaining (mandatory) quality elements, if the surface water bodies a sustainable aquatic environment in the years to come. The concerned reach good/high status and there is no evidence WFD is based on a ‘framework philosophy’ in line with the that the impacts on the water bodies have changed. principle of subsidiarity. It sets only the objectives to be As concerns the classification of the lake quality status, fulfilled by member states (for example, good water the allocation of a lake to a certain environmental class will quality), and defines the organizational structure (river be done by referring to the ecological and chemical status. basin authorities) and mechanisms (existing legislation A series of relevant quality elements are used for the and further measures) to achieve them. As such, the WFD definition of the ecological status of lakes: these are mainly best exemplifies