Abstract
The European Union directives commonly known as Water Framework Directive and Flood Directive represent turning points for European water policies. In this chapter, we briefly describe how they affect people working in the fields of water resources management, exploitation and protection of and from water bodies in Italy. We illustrate the work needed to comply with the obligations of the directives generally, who did the work and with what responsibilities in past implementation cycles, and what was actually done for both directives up to 2016. The result is a picture of the Italian water management system: one that is defined not only by laws, but also by habits and the way institutions have developed during recent history through their interplay with growing technical knowledge, the implementation of policies, and the evolution of the Italian society. The chapter is divided as follows: Sect. 16.1 reports what has to be done to accomplish the goals of the directives generally; Sect. 16.2 explains who performed the actions required by the directives in past implementation cycles; Sects. 16.3 and 16.4 describe and discuss the state of Italy’s application of the directives; Sect. 16.5 covers the role of science in the implementation of the directives; and, finally, Sect. 16.6 contains some considerations on the main critical aspects of the whole process and on the challenges the future application of the directives (in the period 2021–2027) is going to face.
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Notes
- 1.
Directive no. 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.
- 2.
Directive no. 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks.
- 3.
For further information on public participation in the implementation of the directives in Italy, see, in this volume, Chap. 19 by Fasoli, Bastiani and Puma.
- 4.
Decreto legislativo n. 152/2006 (“Norme in materia ambientale”).
- 5.
Legge n. 221/2015 (“Disposizioni in materia ambientale per promuovere misure di green economy e per il contenimento dell’uso eccessivo di risorse naturali”).
- 6.
Decreto ministeriale n. 294/2016 (“Disciplina dell’attribuzione e del trasferimento alle Autorità di bacino distrettuali del personale e delle risorse strumentali, ivi comprese le sedi, e finanziarie delle Autorità di bacino, di cui alla legge 18 maggio 1989, n. 183”).
- 7.
Decreto legislativo n. 219/2010 (“Attuazione della direttiva 2008/105/CE relativa a standard di qualità ambientale nel settore della politica delle acque, recante modifica e successiva abrogazione delle direttive 82/176/CEE, 83/513/CEE, 84/156/CEE, 84/491/CEE, 86/280/CEE, nonché modifica della direttiva 2000/60/CE e recepimento della direttiva 2009/90/CE che stabilisce, conformemente alla direttiva 2000/60/CE, specifiche tecniche per l’analisi chimica e il monitoraggio dello stato delle acque”).
- 8.
Decreto legiuslativo n. 49/2010 (“Attuazione della direttiva 2007/60/CE relativa alla valutazione e alla gestione dei rischi di alluvioni”).
- 9.
Decreto del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri del 14 settembre 2012 (“Definizione dei principi per l’individuazione ed il funzionamento dei Centri di Competenza”).
- 10.
ISPRA , Inquadramento storico del monitoraggio idro-meteografico e delle relative competenze, www.isprambiente.gov.it/it/progetti/cartella-progetti-in-corso/acque-interne-e-marino-costiere-1/progetto-annali/inquadramento-storico-del-monitoraggio-idro-meteografico-e-delle-relative-competenze
- 11.
Decreto-legge n. 132/2016 (“Istituzione del Sistema nazionale a rete per la protezione dell’ambiente e disciplina dell’Istituto superiore per la protezione e la ricerca ambientale”).
- 12.
On Italia Sicura , see also, in this volume, Chap. 2 by Rosso.
- 13.
Decreto del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri del 20 febbraio 2019 (“Approvazione del Piano nazionale per la mitigazione del rischio idrogeologico, il ripristino e la tutela della risorsa ambientale”).
- 14.
RBMPs are available at www.minambiente.it/direttive/aggiornamento-dei-piani-di-gestione-dei-bacini-idrografici; FRMPs are available at www.pcn.minambiente.it/mattm/pgra/
- 15.
Decreto ministeriale n. 56/2009 (“Regolamento recante «Criteri tecnici per il monitoraggio dei corpi idrici e l’identificazione delle condizioni di riferimento per la modifica delle norme tecniche del decreto legislativo 3 aprile 2006, n. 152, recante Norme in materia ambientale, predisposto ai sensi dell’articolo 75, comma 3, del decreto legislativo medesimo»”).
- 16.
Decreto ministeriale n. 260/2010 (“Regolamento recante i criteri tecnici per la classificazione dello stato dei corpi idrici superficiali, per la modifica delle norme tecniche del decreto legislativo 3 aprile 2006, n. 152, recante norme in materia ambientale, predisposto ai sensi dell’articolo 75, comma 3, del medesimo decreto legislativo”).
- 17.
Directive no. 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy, amending and subsequently repealing Council Directives 82/176/EEC, 83/513/EEC, 84/156/EEC, 84/491/EEC, 86/280/EEC and amending Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.
- 18.
Decreto ministeriale n. 156/2013 (“Regolamento recante i criteri tecnici per l’identificazione dei corpi idrici artificiali e fortemente modificati per le acque fluviali e lacustri, per la modifica delle norme tecniche del decreto legislativo 3 aprile 2006, n. 152, recante Norme in materia ambientale, predisposto ai sensi dell’articolo 75, comma 3, del medesimo decreto legislativo”).
- 19.
Decreto direttoriale n. 341/STA of 30 May 2016 (“Classificazione del potenziale ecologico per i corpi idricifortemente modificati e artificiali fluviali e lacustri”).
- 20.
The Reporting Guidance is available at http://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/help/WFD/WFD_521_2016/Guidance/WFD_ReportingGuidance.pdf
- 21.
As described by Art. 2, Para. 38, of the WFD, “Water services means all services which provide, for households, public institutions or any economic activity: (i) abstraction, impoundment, storage, treatment and distribution of surface water or groundwater, (ii) waste-water collection and treatment facilities which subsequently discharge into surface water”.
- 22.
Decreto ministeriale n. 39/2015 (“Regolamento recante i criteri per la definizione dei costi ambientali e della risorsa per i vari settori d’impiego dell’acqua”).
- 23.
For the Italian approach to flood control, see also, in this volume, Chap. 2 by Rosso.
- 24.
Deliberazione della Giunta regionale siciliana n. 274/2018 (“Piano di gestione del rischio di alluvioni – Attuazione della Direttiva 2007/60/CE relativa alla valutazione e alla gestione dei rischi di alluvioni – Aggiornamento”).
- 25.
Other possible levels are: international, national, water body, municipal or local.
- 26.
Decreto direttoriale n. 86/2015 (“Approvazione del documento ‘Strategia Nazionale di Adattamento ai Cambiamenti Climatici’”).
- 27.
On the history of Basin Authorities (Autorità di bacino) and Basin District Authorities (Autorità di bacino distrettuale) see, in this volume, Chap. 15 by Alberton.
- 28.
Indeed, till the enactment of Ministerial Decree no. 294/2016, the RBDs have practically been subsidiary bodies of the MATTM or bodies with mixed State-Regions participation, under a special accounting regime. Thanks to the decree, the RBDs have now the nature of non-economic public bodies with legal personality under public law, and they enjoy autonomy in technical-scientific, organisational, asset-management and accounting matters. Pursuant to Articles 5 and 6 of the decree, the MATTM has taken on a role of direction and coordination (ex ante) and control and supervision (ex post). The attribution of legal personality to the RBDs should primarily entail organisational autonomy, also in relation to spending their budget, which is financed via the transfer of funds by the MATTM. Currently, the RBDs are transitioning from the old legal framework to the new one, which is still in its implementation stage.
- 29.
For further information, see the website of the project: www.lifefranca.eu
- 30.
For further information, see the website of the project: www.hydrosocialextremes.org
- 31.
On the issue of the full recovery of all costs see, in this volume, Chap. 17 by Massarutto.
- 32.
Council Directive no. 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment.
- 33.
Decreto legislativo n. 102/2015 (“Attuazione della direttiva 2013/37/UE che modifica la direttiva 2003/98/CE, relativa al riutilizzo dell’informazione del settore pubblico”).
- 34.
Directive no. 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE).
- 35.
On the public nature of Italy’s water resources, and the collective interests deriving therefrom, see, in this volume, Chap. 5 by Boscolo.
- 36.
The GRAL is a group of experts in flood risk management that promotes projects related to the hydraulic protection of the territory in Italy. For further information, see the website of the group: www.gruppoalluvioni.it
- 37.
For further information, see the website of the Convention: www.alpconv.org
- 38.
For more information, see the website of the association: www.egu.eu
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Martinengo, M., Ziantoni, A., Lazzeri, F., Rosatti, G., Rigon, R. (2021). A Practitioners’ View on the Application of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive in Italy. In: Turrini, P., Massarutto, A., Pertile, M., de Carli, A. (eds) Water Law, Policy and Economics in Italy . Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69075-5_16
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