An integrated approach to river basin management based on EU Water Framework Directive using GIS and Remote Sensing

Abstract

The EU Water Framework Directive is an attempt to influence the sustainable management of water resources and expand the scope of water protection to all surface water and ground water. Water management planning should be viewed as an ongoing activity and not as a one-time effort and sustainable management will always be dynamic. The optimal model for integrated river basin management will deal with the natural geographical and hydrological units instead of administrative or political boundaries. This paper will discuss the use of spatial and temporal data based on high resolution land cover data, weather radar rainfall, soil maps and other hydrometric data for a typical wetland river basin. This research is directed at developing quantitative water management which includes water quantity and quality aspects. In particular the focus will be on the derivation of composite indices of catchment state and well being; the problem being much more difficult when considering the multidisciplinary aspects of integrated river basin management. 1 River basin management and the EU WFD Water stress is caused by pressures on water quantity and quality of available water resources. Surface waters further suffer from the morphological changes which human activities bring about; rivers have often been straightened and widened to improve navigation 1141 or increase conveyance. The EU Water Framework Directive (EU WFD) recognises that the river basin is the natural Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 60, © 2003 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541