Flood Risk Management Law Takes Effect in Europe

The law requires flood risk management to be negotiated across national borders and contains commitments to increase transparency and involve citizens in the process.

The 27 EU member states are now required to identify river basins and associated coastal areas at risk of flooding and draw up flood risk maps and management plans for these areas.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, "It is important for member states to prevent the advent of floods and to protect areas which are likely to be affected by such events. It is also vital to prepare European citizens to cope with the potential occurrence of floods."

Flooding of the Elbe River in Germany of 2002 inundated the city of Dresden. (Photo courtesy Telefonica O2)

"This important new legislation obliges member states to assess flood risks, to inform citizens in potentially affected areas and to involve them in the planning process," Dimas said.

Since 1998 Europe has suffered over 100 major floods, including those along the Danube and Elbe rivers in the summer of 2002.

The successive floods of 2005 and 2007 confirmed Europe's increased susceptibility to floods and reinforced the need for action.

Since 1998 floods in Europe have caused more than 700 deaths, have displaced more than half a million people and have caused more than €25 billion of damage.

Although floods can play a natural role in revitalizing the functioning of ecosystems, they can also cause widespread environmental damage. Pollution transported via flood waters can spread to areas where drinking water is extracted and extreme floods can destroy delicate ecosystems.

While floods are natural phenomena, human activity such as land development and climate change can increase the likelihood of floods occurring. With appropriate prevention measures the possibility of floods can be reduced and their impact minimised.

This new directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 23, 2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks is an important addition to the European Union's water legislation. Dimas says it has been carefully crafted for compatibility with the Water Framework Directive.

It applies to all types of floods whether they originate from rivers and lakes, or occur in urban and coastal areas, or arise as a result of storm surges and tsunamis.

Implementation of the new law in the member states will be done in three stages, beginning with a preliminary assessment of river basins' flood risks and their associated coastal zones to be carried out by 2011.

The 2002 flooding ruined German homes on riverbanks. (Photo German Interior Ministry)

This is to be followed by the development of flood hazard maps and flood risk maps by 2013. The maps are to identify high, medium and low risk areas, including those areas where occurrences of floods would be considered an extreme event.

The maps will also need to include details such as expected water depths, economic activities that could be affected, the numbers of inhabitants at risk and the potential environmental damage.

At the last stage member states are required to produce flood risk management plans by 2015. These plans are to include measures to reduce the probability of flooding and its consequences.

These measures are to focus on preventing unsustainable land use practices by discouraging, for example, building in flood-prone areas.

The plans must also cover how to protect flood prone areas from the likelihood of floods and reducing their potential impact by restoring flood plains or wetlands.

Flood risk assessments will be reviewed and adapted in the light of the effects of climate change and the intensity and frequency of flooding in the long-term, said Dimas.

Another important aspect of the flood risk management plans is the need to prepare the public in the event of flooding.

Member states are obliged to make preliminary flood risk assessments, maps and management plans available to the public. Preparations for flood risk management plans are to be carried out in coordination with public participation in the Water Framework Directive river basin management plans.

Under the directive Member States are obliged to coordinate their activities in shared river basins with other member states or non-EU countries and are required to not carry out measures that are likely to increase flood risks either upstream or downstream unless such measures have been agreed with the affected member state.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.