Conclusions of the conference organized by the association “Gruppo 183”, by IEFE institute and Legambiente, in Milan on October 17, 2003.
Transposing the regulations of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Italy does not require a new framework law, but only modifications of existing legislation. This is one of the conclusions reached by representatives of the Environment Ministry, Regions, Water Authorities and stakeholders who participated to the conference on “The implementation of the European Water Framework Directive: challenges and opportunities for a sustainable water policy in Italy” held at the Bocconi University in Milan, on October 17, 2003.
The main legislative acts on which the implementation of the WFD can be based are Law 183/89 on soil conservation, which established the river basin authorities (six of national significance and eighteen of interregional significance), Law 36/94, known as the Legge Galli, which establishes the ATO (Ambiti Territoriali Ottimali), territorial subdivisions on the basis of which municipalities are to unify the management of distribution and treatment of waters and legislative decree 152/99, which has transposed the main EU directives on waters (for example nitrates and treatment of wastewaters).
But implementing the Water Framework Directive will require a relevant technical and scientific commitment. “We tend to underestimate the many barriers we will encounter in implementing the directive and to overestimate our ability to overcome them”, said Roberto Passino, director of the Water Research Institute (IRSA). According to this research center over 75% of the rivers in Italy do not reach the “good ecological status” as defined by the directive.
Organized by “Gruppo 183”, an association dealing with issues connected with the protection of soil and water resources, and by IEFE, a research organization specialized on energy and environmental issues, the conference, which included 300 participants from all over Italy, dealt with a number of themes connected with the implementation of the directive: ecological, agricultural and institutional.
After a brief introductory remark by Roberto Santaniello, director of the EU Commission office in Milan, Guido Premazzi, of the JRC Institute for the Environment and Sustainability illustrated the main points of the Water Framework Directive. “The objective of the directive is to reach a good status fore surface waters, ground waters, transitional and coastal waters within 2015.” Within the end of 2003, EU Member States have to identify the individual river basins (there are approximately 135 river basin in Europe) and assign them to river basin districts. Until now only three Member States, Austria, Germany and Ireland have done so, according to Barbara Pozzo, of the Fondazione Lombardia per l’Ambiente.
Policy aspects
“The implementation of the Water Directive finds us unprepared”, said Paolo Urbani, professor of administrative law at the LUISS University in Rome, even though laws 183/89 on soil defense and 36/94 are well structured, and the 152/99 decree somehow anticipates the WFD. The measures foreseen by these three legislative acts, the creation of water basin authorities, the census and monitoring of water bodies, have only in part been carried out. The public administration system is too fragmented, while the implementation of the WFD implies a model based on cooperation, solidarity and unanimous decisions. Moreover the main competence of river basin authorities, created on the basis of law 183, are different from those foreseen by WFD for the river districts. River basin authorities are “weak” authorities, while the river districts foreseen by Directive 2000/60 are “strong” authorities, with managing and monitoring powers. Finally the plan foreseen by the directive will have to deal not only with territorial but also economic issues.
The role of economics
”The role of economics is not limited to establishing price policies,” said Antonio Massarutto, of the Bocconi University and IEFE. Economists have to contribute in a number of ways to the implementation of the WFD: by analyzing water uses, so as to assess levels of recovery of the costs and avoid a wasteful use of water and by carrying out economic analysis of water policies. Law 36/94 foresees the creation a committee to collect information on water uses and services and the 152/99 decree foresees an economic evaluation of water uses coherent with that foreseen by the WFD. But until now no specific guidelines have been elaborated, there are only a few experiences in this sector, there are a lot of data but little knowledge, there is no statistic base to carry out these tasks and no public access to documents. Finally there is no tradition of involving stakeholders even though “The WFD cannot be implemented without the involvement of stakeholders”.
According to Riccardo Rifici, of the Istituto Sviluppo Sostenibile Italia, the difficulty of introducing economic efficiency in water policies in Italy is linked to the hidden subsidies given to the agricultural and industrial sectors. Implementing the 2000/60 Directive means applying the “polluters pays” principle.
Agriculture
“Recovery of costs cannot however mean only an increase of the costs of water”, said Nicola Stolfi, representing a national agricultural organization, CREEA. “It must involve also investments, to reduce, for instance the water lost by pipes, a loss which in Italy amounts to over 30% of the total transferred in aqueducts.”
Also for Sergio Baratti, of ANBI, an organization of land reclamation consortiums, a sound programming of water uses does not necessarily mean an increase of fees. An important step towards a situation in which agriculture operates taking into account economic savings and environmental parameters, implies a greater role for land reclamation consortiums, the only organisms which operate with the involvement of stakeholders and on the basis of a full recovery of costs.
Stakeholders
For Giovanni Nilberto, representing ANFIDA, an organization of private companies operating in the water sector, costs of water have to be paid through tariffs, but this will require time. It will be important however to privilege management as opposed to new public works, to separate the roles of government and of managers, taking into account that the managers, chosen through public tenders, are mainly executors of programs.
Paola Agnello Modica, representing the largest labor union in Italy, CGIL, expressed concern for an approach that considers waters almost exclusively as an industrial resource to be privatized. “ While what is needed are investments for regular maintenance of rivers.”
For Andrea Lolli, of Federgasacqua, an organization of public utilities, laws 183/89 and 36/94 are sufficient to manage the transposition of the WDF in Italy, even though they will need some adjustments. Law 36/94 has started to industrialize water management in Italy, but the organisms it created (ATO) have to be reviewed, as they operate in different ways in different parts of the country and “they seem to be everything and its opposite.”
NGOs
For Bruno Miccio, of Gruppo 183, Law 36 foresees a series of measures, which were never carried out: their implementation was simply transferred to technical services which no longer exist. In this situation it is important to have strong regulatory bodies, laws and roles have to clear, and there must be a greater public participation, without which the implementation of the WFD will limit itself only to a transfer of public utilities to private entities. It is also important to start calculating what financial resources will be needed to implement the WD in Italy and, at least by 2004, to define who will do what and how.
For Giuseppe Gavioli, of the Gruppo 183, it is important to remember the government of waters cannot be based on administrative levels, but is efficient only if it takes into account the whole river basin. River districts should be based on existing river basin authorities, which include regions in their institutional committees.
For Andrea Agapito, of WWF Italy, there is a need not only for more public participation but also for greater experimentation and coordination with other EU Member States.
“Today water has become a global issue and it is important that technicians and experts open themselves to public debate”, said Roberto Della Seta, of Legambiente.”
Institutions
For Giuseppe Bortone, environment councilor of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Italian regions are prepared to implement the Water Framework Directive. Regions, and not water authorities, are the administrations that should govern waters, as managing waters should be at local and not central government level.
Also for Salvatore De Giorgio, of the Piemonte Region, regions are ready to implement the Water Directive. River basin authorities should be in charge of only of strategic coordination, leaving every other aspect to regional administrations.
Ignazio Terranova, of the Tiber river basin Authority, illustrated the work being carried out by his administration, including the pilot action being carried out in the Cecina river basin, as a verification of the applicability of the WFD. The main problem of the Tiber river basin is not the lack of data, but how to put them into relation.
For Michele Presbitero, of the Po river basin Authority, implementing the WFD is not an impossible task, but requires a positive attitude. It would be useful to start experimenting the implementation of the WFD in one of the river within the Po basin, as for instance the Ticino river basin.
According to Bernardo De Bernardinis, director general of the Department of Civil Protection, it would be important to unite regional and sub regional river basin administrations into single authorities. And it would be important that all river basin managers develop emergency plans.
For Gianfranco Mascazzini, director general of the Environment Ministry, the different roles of river basins and regions should be respected. Had it not for river basin authorities today there would not be any of the plans which have been produced and approved. Regional administrations are too near to local realities to adopt tough and rigorous measures. The real problem is that there are no national river basin authorities in most of southern Italy.