Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) :

Concept paper on reporting and
compliance checking
Endorsed by Water Directors 30 November 2009

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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

Title: Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking for the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)
Version no.: Final
Date: 30 November 2009
History : A concept paper on reporting is s the first step in developing reporting (and/or making
information available) on floods. The document has been subject to several rounds of consultation with
WG F on Floods, including Member States and stakeholders experts. Water Directors gave final
endorsement of this concept paper on 30.11.2009.

Disclaimer : This technical document has been developed through a collaborative programme involving
the European Commission, all the Member States, the Accession Countries, Norway and other
stakeholders and Non-Governmental organisations. The document should be regarded as presenting aan
informal consensus position agreed by all parties. However; the document does not necessarily represent
the official, formal position of any of the partners. Hence, the views expressed in the document do not
necessarily represent the views of the European Commission.
Contacts:
Maria Brttemark (DG ENV) (Maria Braettemark@ec.europa.eu), Jorge Rodriguez Romero (DG ENV)
(Jorge.rodriguez-romero@ec.europa.eu),
More information
Workprogramme 2010-2012 of WG F and the Common Implementation strategy, including the mandate of
WG F is available here : http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/flood_risk/index.htm
More information on Directive 2007/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October
2007 on the assessment and management of flood risks is available here :
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/objectives/implementation_en.htm

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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

Table of contents
1.
2.
3.

Introduction .........................................................................................4
The reporting obligations of the Floods Directive ...........................6
The need for information on flooding at the European level...........8
3.1
The European Commission ...............................................................8
3.1.1
Background ................................................................................8
3.1.2
Compliance checking .................................................................8
3.1.3
Informing and encouraging active participation of the public ......9
3.1.4
Agreement on what shall be reported, why, how and how the
information will be used. .........................................................................10
3.2
Other users needs for information ...................................................10
3.2.1
JRC ..........................................................................................10
3.2.2
EEA ..........................................................................................11
3.2.3
Civil protection ..........................................................................11
3.2.4
DG Regio..................................................................................11
4.
The Water Information system for Europe......................................12
4.1
Background .....................................................................................12
4.2
Reporting using WISE .....................................................................12
5.
Visualisation of reported information .............................................15
5.1
Introduction......................................................................................15
5.2
Visualisation ....................................................................................16
5.3
Visualisation in WISE - example from WFD.....................................18
5.4
Possible visualisation of Floods Directive information .....................19
5.4.1
Map of RBDs and UoMs...........................................................19
5.4.2
Significant floods in the past.....................................................19
5.4.3
Potential flood risk receptors ....................................................20
5.4.4
Potential significant flood risk areas .........................................20
5.4.5
Flood hazard maps and flood risk maps...................................20
5.4.6
Flood Risk Management Plans.................................................21
6.
Road map to reporting of the Floods Directive ..............................22
Annex A: List of proposed Reporting Sheets...........................................23
Annex B: Thematic spatial satasets covered by the INSPIRE Directive 24

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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

1.

Introduction

Directive (2007/60/EC) on the assessment and management of flood risks (the

Floods Directive) came into force on 26 November 2007. Article 15 of the Directive
indicates that Member States (MS) shall make available to the Commission the
preliminary flood risk assessment, the flood hazard maps, the flood risk maps and
flood risk management plans referred to in Articles 4 (Preliminary Flood Risk
Assessment), 6 (Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Maps), 7 (Flood Risk Management
Plans) and 13 (Transitional Measures), three months after deadlines in the respective
Articles.
In terms of the reporting requirements of the Directive, Article 11 gives the
Commission the right to adopt legally binding reporting formats (e.g. for statistical
and cartographic data) through comitology if required.
It is intended that MS will report on the FD through the Water Information System for
Europe (WISE). WISE is being developed as a joint initiative and effort by the
Commission and Member States under the auspices of the Water Directors. WISE
will deliver information on the water environment at the EU level including on
international river basins. Reporting of FD information via WISE is important to
ensure consistency and adequate information flows with other EU water legislation,
notably the Water Framework Directive (WFD), Drinking Water Directive and Bathing
Water Directive. The experience gained in the reporting of the WFD, and the
procedures applied to that process, are also appropriate for developing the reporting
system for floods which will also need to be adaptable to changing and developing
techniques and technology. Reporting through WISE will in the future help in
achieving compliance with the obligations under the INSPIRE Directive (see section
4.2 and Annex B of this document).
In addition to the reporting of the methodologies, assessments and outputs used by
MS, the Commission also needs sufficient information that will enable it to check
compliance and progress with the implementation of the Floods Directive (FD).
The application of the FD requires coordination with the WFD (Article 9) and all three
Directives (including INSPIRE) have a requirement to make information available to
the public. Key information on the WFD is already available in WISE. Reporting via
WISE will also be able to facilitate the required information exchange between MSs
in shared river basins. As well as being an important tool at present, it is also
important to see WISE as a system expanding to include other EU water policy
areas.
Other key policy issues need to be taken into account when developing the reporting
system for the Floods Directive, notably the issue climate change (increased need for
information exchange on certain aspects), data security aspects (a possible need to
restrict access to certain information related to critical infrastructure or other security
classified information for instance ) and future initiatives such as Shared
Environmental Information Systems (SEIS). The constantly developing techniques for
reporting should also be taken into account, notably by ensuring a flexible system is
developed which reaps all benefits of such advances.
The aim of this concept paper is to outline the main issues to be considered in order
to reach agreement on the way forward. Issues addressed such as scale,
visualisation and detailed reporting schemas and formats will be further developed in
the subsequent process.

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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

Look Out!: Key principles for reporting for the Floods Directive
1. Information and data reported for the Floods Directive should
include that:
which is explicitly required by the Floods Directive; , and
other information that:
would add significant value for the public, the European
Commission and other users; or
required by the Commission to meet its duty of checking;
compliance of the Directive within the EU.
where such information can be produced and provided by the
Member States without significant additional cost or effort beyond
that necessary for implementation of the Directive.
2. Geographic information provided should be compliant with the
requirements of the INSPIRE Directive.
3. An appropriate balance should be sought between information
displayed and visualised at the European level through WISE and at
a national level through national systems, avoiding where possible
and in particular, the duplication of reporting at the two levels, and the
need to prepare or significantly reformat work already undertaken for
the sole purposes of reporting.
4. Flooding is defined in the FD as the temporary covering by water
of land not normally covered by water. The visualisation of flood
related information at the European level must therefore consider
both the potentially impacted land related features (e.g. human
dwellings) as well as the source of the flooding e.g. water courses,
coastal waters and lakes.

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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

2.

The reporting obligations of the Floods Directive

The reporting obligations under the Floods Directive are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1

Reporting, notification or information obligations of the Floods

Directive

Subject

Main
Article

Transposition
Competent authorities
and Units of
Management if
different from WFD
Preliminary flood risk
assessment (PFRA)

17
3.2
(Annex 1
WFD)
4

Flood Hazard and

Flood Risk Maps
Flood Risk
Management Plans
(FRMP)
Deadline for
availability of
transitional measures
Progress by MSs in
implementation

Other
Articles

Respon
sibility

To

Report due
date

Frequency/
Review

MS
MS

COM
COM

By 26/11/09
26/05/10

3 months after
any changes

13.1.a
and b

MS

COM

22/03/12

13.2

MS

COM

22/03/14

7
Annex

13.3

MS

COM

22/03/16

13

MS

COM

22/12/2010

22/12/18, every
6 years
thereafter
22/12/19, every
6 years
thereafter
22/12/21, every
6 years
thereafter
na

16

COM

EP,
C

22/12/18

Every 6 years
thereafter

Notes:
C - Council
COM Commission
EP European Parliament
MS Member States

Therefore, there are five key reporting/notification milestones from Member States to
the Commission:
1.

Information on administrative arrangements;

2.

Preliminary flood risk assessment;

3.

Flood risk and Flood hazard maps;

4.

Flood risk management plans;

5.

Use of existing instruments for the above points 2-4.

Reporting on points 1 to 4 will be dealt with in separate reporting sheets. However it

is foreseen that the reporting requirements under point 5 will be dealt with in relation
to their relevant main reporting stages, where the issue of reporting existing
information and the assessment of equivalence will be looked at in each relevant
section. Each Reporting Sheet will indicate how the Commission will use the
information for and which criteria for compliance the Commission will apply, giving an
indication on how such equivalence will be assessed.

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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

Even though it is proposed not to have a reporting sheet for Article 13, there will be
the same need to assess compliance and transparency of Member States (MS)
existing tools and methods. To identify which Member States plan to a make use of
the provisions of article 13, the Commission may write to MS after date (22.12.2010)
by which the output of the relevant implementation steps (assessments, maps, plans)
requesting evidence that the equivalent methods and tools are already in existence.
The relevant information would then have to be made available as soon as possible.
There would be a need for transparency and information on the status of the tools for
each of the steps required for the FD. The reporting sheets for the other relevant
Articles of the FD will, therefore, be looked at to see in particular what should be
reported for the purposes of Article 13. It should however be noted that criteria for
equivalence in Article 13 means to a large extent the same type of information as
required for flood hazard maps and flood risk maps (Article 6) and for flood risk
management plans (Article 7) would be needed. The reporting formats for Articles 13
should, therefore as far as possible, be the same for reporting under Article 6 and 7,
to enable the assessment of equivalence that will be considered on a case by case
basis treating all Member States on an equal basis. Further technical issues in
relation to the reporting of existing outputs of the relevant implementation steps
(assessments, maps, plans) will be considered in each reporting sheet and in
subsequent reporting format and reporting scheme documents.
Technical formats for the purpose of processing and transmission of data including
statistical and cartographic data to the Commission may be adopted (under Article
11) at least two years before the completion deadlines given in the relevant Article
deadlines, should this format be chosen. Hence the deadline for technical formats for
the PFRA is 22.12.2009, the hazard and risk maps, 22.12.2011 and the FRMP by
22.12.2013. These deadlines should be aimed at, also if the general approach as
developed for other water legislation is agreed, whereby reporting sheets informally
agreed by Water Directors and subsequent development of technical reporting
formats are chosen.
Article 9 of the FD requires coordination of the application of the FD with the WFD
focusing on opportunities for improving efficiency, information exchange and for
achieving common synergies and benefits having regard to the environmental
objectives laid down by the WFD. In particular the information contained in the flood
risk and flood hazards should be consistent with that presented in the WFD. The
maps and the flood risk management plans should also be coordinated with, and
may be integrated into the reviews of WFD pressures and impacts analysis and River
Basin Management Plans (RBMPs), respectively. The reporting and dissemination of
FD information to/from WISE will provide another opportunity for ensuring this
information exchange and synergies between the Directives.
The FD includes several information sharing and coordination requirement in such
international RBD.
In addition MSs have to, in accordance with Community legislation, make available
the PFRA, flood hazard and risk maps and the FRMP to the public (Article 10).

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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

3.

The need for information on flooding at the

European level

3.1 The European Commission

3.1.1 Background
A key role of the Commission is to check compliance with EU legislation. In order to
be able to do this, it requires information that enables it to:

Ensure data are plausible;

Ensure data are consistent;

Conduct cross-references and cross-checks on data (especially in

International River Basins); and,

Ensure Directives have been implemented in a comparable way.

The Commission also seeks information on the state of the environment and trends
including on flooding (usually in cooperation with EEA), and on implementation of
measures and objectives set to allow it to determine whether existing policies are
adequately protecting the environment and European citizens and could play a role in
relation to assessment on whether funds are adequately distributed. It also requires
certain information at European level to create a European-wide picture to inform the
public.
Article 16 of the FD specifically requires the Commission to report to the European
Parliament and Council on the implementation of the Directive by 2018 and every 6
years thereafter.
In terms of the FD reporting includes making available to the Commission (as well as
to the public), (e.g. PFRA, maps and plans) required by the FD as listed in Table 1.
In addition, in order to allow the Commission to fulfil its tasks of compliance checking,
a set of information related to details of the information, data, methods and
assessments used to produce the outputs as agreed with the MSs will be reported in
a standardised format through WISE. This will be used for the first steps in
compliance checking and it also has to cover the other purposes of WISE: providing
information at EU level and in particular on international RBDs.
To meet the Commissions needs, data must be reported (or made available) in a
clear and consistent way by all Member States. The information can be aggregated
and supplied at a higher aggregation level than may be required at, for example
Member State level. However, the Commission may need access to more detailed
information (e.g. by providing hyperlinks to more detailed documents or by requesting
more specific information or data) in cases where comprehension (e.g. of how a
result has been achieved) or compliance (e.g. with specific issues) is not clear.

3.1.2 Compliance checking

The Commissions current thinking with regards to the steps in compliance checking
reports specifically for the WFD is shown in Figure 1.
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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

Figure 1

Three main questions currently relate to the reported WFD data and information:

Are the reports complete (provision of mandatory fields) and clear (values in
code lists correct and numeric/character values in correct minimum/maximum
ranges)?
Are the reports understandable (sense check)?
Are the reports compliant
o with regard to key issues (conformity checking) involving for some
issues the use of appropriate indicators?
o after in-depth assessment?

There are two parts to conformity checking: checking methodologies and checking
data or results.
A similar procedure is envisaged for the FD.
3.1.3

Informing and encouraging active participation of the public

Obligations on public availability of information arise from Article 10 of the FD. The
main tools/outputs to be made available to the public are:

Preliminary Flood Risk assessment;

Flood hazard and flood risk maps;

Flood risk management plans.

In accordance with Community legislation (such as Aarhus legislation), which

includes making available any background documents, this information shall also be
made available to the public. Other information communicated to the Commission is
also available to the public, upon request for information. Not all information reported
to WISE for compliance checking purposes will however automatically be made
available in a public view, but can also be kept restricted for the Commission to
access or be made available in specifically defined expert views.

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In addition, Articles 9 and 10 also require that Member States undertake a public
participation campaign in the process of preparing the flood risk management plans,
and as appropriate, in coordination with the WFD. Ensuring transparency of key
information in WISE will facilitate this process, not the least in an international river
basin/unit of managements.
3.1.4 Agreement on what shall be reported, why, how and how the
information will be used.
The proposed reporting sheets are listed in Annex A of this document. These are to
be developed starting at the beginning of 2009, and shall include more detail on the
information that is needed by the Commission in terms of checking MS compliance
with the FD, and for ensuring a consistent level of information informing the general
public on the hazard and risk of flooding at the European level.
Examples of indicators that could be used for compliance checking, visualisation and
representation of reported information, for example, in the WISE viewer are given in
Section 5. Once agreed and finalised with MS and other users the information would
then be incorporated and specified within Reporting sheets which would be the next
step in establishing the reporting process for the FD (see section 6). Examples of
indicators will be will be further developed in agreement with MS and will be
integrated into reporting sheets.
The reporting sheets will explain why the information is needed and how the
information will be used. Finding the right balance between reporting and visualising
information at the European level and keeping information to be made available in
national databases/flood maps on-line needs to be found. WISE shall be used to
provide a link from the European level to nationally stored information and to provide
certain information at aggregated level.

3.2 Other users needs for information

This section gives a non-exhaustive list of examples of other potential users of
information related to the implementation of the Floods Directive.
3.2.1

JRC

The DG Joint Research Centre provides research based policy support to other
Commission DGs. To carry out this support more accurately, the items provided for
the Floods Directive will be very beneficial. For floods, JRC assists DG ENV and DG
REGIO with the following activities:

European Flood Alert System (EFAS): early warning on river floods for
National Authorities and the Commissions Civil Protection

Other coastal flood warning systems.

Assessment of climate change effects on floods in Europe.

Assisting DG REGIO in evaluating Solidarity Funds (EUSF) applications of

MS after major floods.
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Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) - Concept paper on reporting and compliance checking

Evaluating flood risk at European scale to assist DG REGIO in defining and

monitoring regional planning strategies.

3.2.2 EEA
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union. Its
task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment.
Regarding the data management, EEA cooperates with DG ENV in the development
and maintenance of the Water Information System for Europe (WISE). WISE
contains so far the compliance related information under the WFD and the UWWTD,
as well as voluntary SoE information related to these directives and the wider EEA
work (stemming from the Eionet). Other directives including the FD are currently
integrated.
The EEA uses the SoE information in WISE in the context of its mandate to publish
every 5 years reports on state, trends and outlooks of the Environment. To this
purpose EEA collects regularly data via its network, develops indicator and wider
assessments on environmental themes. This includes issues such as mapping the
impacts of natural disasters and technological accidents (including the recurrence of
flood events in Europe), climate change and water adaptation issues including
flooding and climate change impact report which includes indicators on water
quantity, river flows, floods and droughts. Aggregated information on past floods
(frequency, duration, location per RB) and an ongoing record of current floods and its
impacts would facilitate the state and trend analysis in this area.

3.2.3 Civil protection

Detailed information on flood risk is crucial for effective civil protection operations
before and during a flood crisis, such as the information to be included in the flood
hazard maps, flood risk maps and flood risk management plans. Activities also
include reinforcing cooperation on the whole risk management cycle such as early
warning Systems, a Strategy on prevention on natural and man-made disasters..

3.2.4 DG Regio
The Structural Funds, in particular the European Regional Development Fund and
the Cohesion Fund can finance preventive (infrastructure) investments including for
flood protection. The European Regional Development Fund can also contribute to
financing infrastructure-related research and technological development.
The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) also can intervene to finance recovery
operations, depending on the scale of damage which occurred.
Transparent information at the European level on the assessment and management
of floods according to the Directive can be beneficial for the management of such
funds. The flood risk maps will allow DG REGIO to evaluate the MS applications
more accurately and quickly.

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4.

The Water Information system for Europe

4.1 Background
The Water Information System for Europe (WISE) is an umbrella term for a wider
initiative to modernise and streamline the collection and dissemination of information
related to European water policy. The overall objective of this process is the
development of a new, comprehensive, shared European data and information
management system for water, including river basins. The system should be based
on the concept paper and should be fully implemented by 2010. This objective and
the detailed concept paper for WISE was agreed by the EU bodies (DG ENV, JRC,
ESTAT and EEA) leading the WISE process and the (then) EU25 Member States,
Norway, Bulgaria and Romania during the Water Directors meeting in November
2003. The starting point for WISE is reporting for the Water Framework Directive.
WISE is further developed and maintained mainly (with resources) from DG ENV and
EEA.
There are several aspects which illustrate what WISE is (or will be), in particular:

WISE is the water-related component of INSPIRE. See Annex B for more

details of the thematic spatial data sets covered by INSPIRE.

WISE is a formal compliance reporting tool. Thereby, it facilitates the

information exchange between the Member States and the Commission. This
implies that formal rules are established for this part in order to avoid parallel
or double reporting.

WISE provides access to water-related data available on European level

beyond the formal compliance data. Extensive amounts of data are being
collected by European and international organisations. WISE also holds the
voluntary SoE information related to the water directives and the wider EEA
work (stemming from the Eionet).

Exchange of data and interoperability of systems.

Other directives including the FD are currently integrated. The link to the Eurostat
water reporting is under development.
In summary, depending on the context, WISE can refer to an initiative, a concept, a
process, an information system, a set of rules or tools for reporting, a dataset or
component or something else. More information on WISE construction, development
plans and principles are available in the WISE Concept paper (2003), GIS Guidance
document and the WISE implementation plan (2006).

4.2 Reporting using WISE

Water Directors have agreed that WISE will cover all water-related information
arising from EU water policy (Water Framework, Urban Waste Water Treatment,
Nitrates, Bathing Waters and Drinking Water Directives), as well as the Floods
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Directive1. In addition, WISE includes other water-related datasets such as EionetWater developed by EEA for SoE reporting (now known as WISE-SoE), and will
include those datasets arising from relevant water research projects.
As indicated above it is intended that WISE will be the basis for reporting on the
Floods Directive (FD). The practical steps to achieve this include:

the definition of the reporting obligations of the FD (section 2);

the Commissions and other users needs for information including for
compliance checking (a legal obligation on the Commission) (section 3);

the use of the reported information (section 3);

leading to the production of reporting sheets with the exact contents of the
reports that will be agreed with Water Directors (section 6 and Annex);

tools for data entry/collection; and,

visualisation of information (section 5).

The process is illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2 WISE data flows to be developed for the purpose of FD reporting

WISE data flow (all steps involve QA/QC)

QA/QC feedback mechanism

Data definition/
requirements

Submission

Delivery database

Acceptance

Production
databases

EU Databases
(Spatial) reference datasets

WISE viewer,
GIS visualisation

Step 7a: Public or

restricted viewing, map
service, aggregation,
statistics

Version of 04/09/08

Step 1: WG D reporting sheets:

Compliance or SoE, voluntary (or through comitology)
Step 2: End-user tool, schema/DEM, XML/shape/GML, other tools
(DD, glossary), help desk
Step 3: central holding area (CDR: MS individual submissions),
management of access rights
Step 4: Automatic QA/QC checks in CDR + standardised manual
checks if needed, feedback to data submitters
Step 5: Final data storage: EU-wide, quality-checked databases
(e.g. Art.3, 5, 8 WFD, BWD, SoE, NiD, UWWTD, etc)

Compliance-check
databases DG ENV

Legal, political,
Assessment, compliance

Step 7b: Tools for

compliance assessment

Analytical databases
JRC, EEA

Step 6:
Purposeoriented
databases

Analysis/Scenarios

Step 7c: Tools for SoE

assessment, CCM2,
management scenarios

The development of WISE is being carried out in two main stages (Figure 3). At first
the output side (in particular the WISE public viewer) was set up and launched to the
public in March 2007. The more complex and demanding development of the input
side of the system is due to be completed in 2010.
Figure 3
WISE development from now to 2010 focusing first on the streamlining
of output and then on input data flows

WISE Implementation plan : http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/waterframework/transp_rep/pdf/wise_ip_2006_2010.pdf and the 2003 WISE concept paper :
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/transp_rep/pdf/2003_concept_report.pdf This concept latter
was adopted before the Floods Directive was proposed, hence no specific reference to the Directive, but the principle
of streamlining of reporting is stated. Water Directors confirmed that Floods Directive reporting should take place via
WISE in the CIS and WG F work programmes for 2007-2009.
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2007
EOINET
water /
SoE

Member
Member
states
states
Member
Member
states
states
Member
Member
states
states
Member
Member
states
states

Report
Net

State of
envment
Bathing
water D
Urban
WWD

2010
Member
Member
states
states

WISE
Public
Viewer

WFD

WISE
Public

WFD,
UWWD
Report
Net:
Push/
Pull
Protocols

EIONET
Water
ESTAT
Other
policies/
users

WISE:
Access
Protocols

OUTPUT

INPUT

Member
Member
states
states

WISE
Expert
WISE
Analysis

In the longer term WISE will be developed and operated as a distributed data
management system. This means data would be stored at different nodes (at
Member State or local level) and information could be shared between all
participating nodes. For the purpose of information sharing and exchange all
participating nodes would have to be interoperable2. Data would be exchangeable
and services would be able to access and process data from different nodes. The
aim is to operate WISE as a distributed system by 2015.
The development of this distributed data management system will be important for
the future reporting under the Floods Directive, not the least as regards enabling
flood maps in the appropriate scale for their purpose to be made available to the
Commission and the public alike.
The INSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC) entered into force on 15 May 2007 and its
successful implementation will go a long way towards overcoming existing
inefficiencies relating to the use and usability of spatial data stored by public
authorities. The Directive requires the adoption of Implementing Rules covering
such aspects as metadata, data specifications and data and service sharing. The
Implementing Rules have to be adopted between 2008 and 2012 and will come into
force between 2010 and 2019. WISE is the "water pillar" of INSPIRE, and reporting
via WISE will be INSPIRE compliant as the two systems develop in synergy.
It should be noted that the INSPIRE Directive should ensure that spatial data sets
and services are interoperable in accordance with the INSPIRE Implementing Rules.
The relevant spatial data themes are included in Annex B. This will be important
development for in particular future flood mapping in the EU, and shall be fully taken
into account in developing reporting formats for the Floods Directive. The issue of
licensing arrangements for the sharing of spatial data sets and information will also

Interoperability in the ESDI context means that each Member State maintains its own infrastructure, but adopts a
framework that enables existing spatial data sets to be linked from one Member State to another (e.g. via
transformation)
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be addressed by INSPIRE: experience with reporting for the WFD has highlighted
this potential problem.
The timetable for full implementation of INSPIRE, with all components expected to be
in place gradually between 2010- 2018, means that full INSPIRE compliance of
Floods Reporting can only be expected by the 2nd cycle. In the 1st cycle a two phased
approach is foreseen, where by in the short term (until 2012) whereby the reporting
formats would be developed according to the current capacity and architecture of
WISE, whereby on the longer term (2013-2018) the technical reporting formats and
visualisation would be developed to be fully INSPIRE compliant. This will in particular
have an impact on reporting of flood hazard and risk maps.
Both the long terms and short term however requires that the content of what is to be
reported is to be determined in the reporting sheets as soon as possible (by end
2010). At the same time it is important for those responsible for implementation and
reporting of the Floods Directive are involved in the development of relevant
components of INSPIRE (Implementing Rules for annex II on natural hazard zones
for instance).

5.

Visualisation of reported information

5.1 Introduction
The intention is to disseminate certain aspects of the reported FD data and
information via WISE, and where necessary, appropriate and possible, provide links
to data and information from other sources such as national flood maps which can
provide a higher resolution than WISE which will be more appropriate for flood
mapping purposes (larger scale than 1:250.000).
As Figure 2 illustrates the WISE viewer will provide public or restricted access to the
information reported to or held in WISE. This will be a subset of the whole
information, and the information may need to be pre-processed, for example, in order
to be visualised at different scales, etc.
The concept of the WISE map viewer is to package pre-defined maps and queries
within a web-based interactive interface. The default view of each map is at
European level, typically showing data aggregated to either Member State or River
Basin District. The pre-defined maps and queries present the information submitted
by Member States as a single merged dataset at European level.
As the user zooms in the classified features (e.g. monitoring stations in the WFD
context) are shown and the user can click on them to retrieve further information.
Information is output either through a map pop-up or a table in a separate tab.
Context for the map is provided in a Map explanation tab, giving a short textual
explanation of the definition and background to the map, and a Related links tab. It
is possible to search different features on the map through a search box on different
layers.
For other themes and Directives (e.g. relating to the Water Framework, Urban
Wastewater Treatment or Bathing Water Directives, WISE-SoE, etc) data can be
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aggregated to either the Member State or River Basin District levels, adding value to
this comparable European view. Experts for the respective field are responsible for
ensuring the data displayed in the WISE map viewer has been through a quality
checking procedure.
Adding a flood theme with relevant layers will enable coordination and information
exchange within the principle of integrated river basin management plans, for
instance by visualising protected drinking water abstraction areas at risk from
flooding.
This section gives a brief overview and list of the maps, figures and tables that could
in the future be included in the WISE-viewer.

5.2 Visualisation
The focus on visualising information reported on implementation status and
compliance of directives will be on European overviews and individual country/RBD
representations (using maps). This will be accompanied by the use of derived and
detailed indicators of key aspects and issues associated with implementing water
directives.
WISE Reference GIS datasets provide the basis against which comparable statistics
and indicators are calculated. WISE Reference GIS datasets are based on nationally
reported data from the Member States for use at different scales. Features at
European, national and regional levels are linked through vertical integration using
coding. The WISE Reference GIS datasets include, for example, main rivers
(catchment area >500 km2), main lakes (surface area >100 km2) and water bodies
including all transitional and coastal water bodies.
Visualising flooding information at a European level presents a number of significant
technical challenges. The final inclusion of visualisation proposals in the WISE
viewer will depend on some of the following factors:

The development of simple and transferable methods of presenting

information on flood hazards, flood extents and flood risks;
Retaining an appropriate balance between reporting and visualising
information at the European level and keeping information to be made
available on line at the national level;
Agreed levels of harmonisation of methods and datasets at a European level;
Public interested and the needs of key user groups;
Technical challenge of linking flooding information (land affected) with other
WISE data that focuses on bodies of water;
Business rules for the use and dissemination of information supplied by MSs.

To ensure consistency with existing WISE standards, information reported by MSs is

likely to be visualised at the European level at a scale of 1:250,000. At the European
scale there will therefore be a limit to the size of objects and features that can be
visualised. More detailed information would therefore be accessed through national
datasets and servers. At larger scales, the intention would be to create links to
national servers where more detailed information will be accessible.
Given the need to coordinate mapping at the level of the river basin districts or unit of
management, which may cross international boundaries, it would be preferable that
the information presented at the national level is in the same format (e.g. colour
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codes and scale) and represents the same level of risk across all European
countries. This would require harmonisation of national methods and datasets
between MS, or at least generalisation of datasets before making them available for
presentation at the European level. In other words, interoperability would be required.
This is currently not possible as there are many differences in national flood related
methods and outputs (e.g. maps) which MS are likely to continue to use, however
with common metadata rules technical solutions to the issues addressed here are
easier to find.
However, harmonised spatial datasets as required by INSPIRE may be able
contribute to interoperability and the reporting and dissemination of more comparable
information at the European level in the longer term. This would mainly be resolved
at the river basin district level. National maps will be published in national languages
and to overcome such linguistic differences, multilingual translations of mapping
legends, a multilingual thesaurus/glossary etc could be developed and made
available in WISE.

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5.3 Visualisation in WISE - example from WFD

The visualisation and analysis of indicators at different scales can be achieved by
linking the WISE Reference GIS datasets, either by code or spatially. At the most
detailed level, actual values may be visualised and analysed using the geometry
defined for the feature against which the values were reported. Alternatively, reported
values may be aggregated to a different spatial unit. For example in terms of WFD
information, heavily modified river water bodies can be visualised and analysed at
the individual water body level. Alternatively, a percentage of heavily modified river
water bodies within a River Basin District can be calculated by aggregating values
within the spatial unit.

Figure 4

Visualisation of water bodies not at risk and possibly at risk of failing

WFD environmental objectives

Figure 5

Summary statistics at the River Basin District level of water bodies not
at risk, possibly at risk and at risk of failing WFD environmental
objectives

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There will be clear opportunities to build on work undertaken to visualise WFD

information in WISE. For instance, many of the core datasets created for the WFD,
including maps of rivers, water bodies and river basin districts, will be directly
applicable to the Floods Directive. Wherever appropriate, the intention will be to use
or create links to WFD datasets.
However, as flooding affects the land surface, whereas WFD datasets focus on
bodies of water, it will not be possible to rely solely on WFD datasets or data models,
and new approaches to visualising flooding information will be required.

5.4 Possible visualisation of Floods Directive

information
As described previously in this paper the Commission has proposed to use indicators
as part of its compliance checking procedures. This section contains examples of
indicators that might be developed and used for the Floods Directive and in particular
for visualising reported information in the WISE viewer. This would be accompanied
where appropriate by summary tables of data and information, and descriptive and
interpretative text.
The indicators (shown in italics at the start of each of the sub-section below)
and presentations should only be considered as preliminary proposals to be
further developed in discussions with WG F. Details of the information required
to compile the indicators and presentations will be developed in the reporting
sheets.

5.4.1 Map of RBDs and UoMs

A European overview map showing the boundaries of RBD and Units of
Management (UoM) including the borders of the river basins, sub-basins and, where
existing coastal areas, showing topography and land use. At present there is an
overview map of WFD RBDs with international RBDs coloured pink and national
RBDs green.
The aim would be to present a similar UoMs map relevant to the Floods Directive:
colour coded according to whether it is a national or international UoM. Users are
able to select individual RBDs (or UoMs where relevant) and zoom into the selected
RBD showing main geographic and water related features. For each RBD, there is a
tabular presentation of the RBDs statistics such surface area, type of RBD and with
links to the designated competent authority.

5.4.2 Significant floods in the past

Occurrence of significant floods in the past (i.e. floods that have occurred in the past
with significant adverse impacts on human health, the environment, cultural heritage
or economic activity) for which the likelihood of similar future events is still relevant.
A European overview map showing the location of significant floods in the past over
a predefined period and whether they are still relevant . This information would be
accompanied by information on the river affected and the type of flood. This could be
prepared where this information is already available in appropriate formats, and could
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be presented in WISE as an assistance to Member States in shared river

basins/UoM, for the carrying out of the Preliminary Flood Risk assessment in
accordance with FD Article 4.2 (b) and (c). For some MS this information may not be
available and/or relevant for some RBDs or UoMs.
For each RBD/UoM there would also be summary statistics on, for example, the
extent of significant floods, the type of flood, and the type of adverse impacts
experienced.

5.4.3 Potential flood risk receptors

Occurrence and adverse consequences of future floods.
European overview map showing the locations of past and / or potential future floods
that could have significant adverse consequences. This would be accompanied by
data on the rivers affected and the type of flood.
More detailed information would have to be obtained from national sources, through
zooming in. However, built-up areas and names of significant towns etc. are already
included the background layers of the WISE viewer.

5.4.4 Potential significant flood risk areas

Flood risk areas in Europe (area/proportion of RBD/UoMs) that are potential
significant flood risk areas.
At the European level, overview maps showing the location, proportion or areas
identified as being at potentially significant flood risk within the RBDs and UoMs.
For each RBD/UoM a summary statistical table on the location of potential significant
flood risk areas, including the type of flooding contributing to the identified flood risk
could be generated.
Whilst there could be zooming into the individual RBDs or UoMs, it may not be
possible to show the detailed extent of potential significant flood risk areas on the
WISE-viewer. Such information would have to be obtained from national sources, by
zooming in to national flood maps.
Accompanying the presentation of the identified areas of potential significant flood
risk, shall be a map showing which option was applied (article 4-5, or article 13.1(a)
or 13.1(b)), making it clear to the public that the absence of a PFRA means that the
maps in accordance with article 6 have been, or will be, produced.

5.4.5 Flood hazard maps and flood risk maps

Article 6 of the FD requires MS to prepare flood hazard and flood risk maps for all
potential flood risk areas indentified under Article 5(1) by 22 December 2013, and
report them to the Commission by 22 March 2014. These should be at the level of
the RBD or UoM. There should be a prior (to the preparation of maps) exchange of
information for potential flood risk areas shared between MS.

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The Commission will wish to check that the requirements laid down in the FD have
been complied with in the production of these maps, and in particular that
international transboundary flood risk issues have been dealt with appropriately. In
addition a comparison of the level of hazard being assessed will be made between
MSs RBDs and UoMs to highlight best practice and areas of potential shortcomings
in terms of safeguarding European citizens.
Reporting sheets for the flood hazard and flood risk maps will be developed at a later
stage in the process of developing reporting for the FD.

5.4.6 Flood Risk Management Plans

Article 7 of the Floods Directive requires member states to prepare flood risk
management plans for all areas identified as posing a potentially significant flood risk
under Article 5 (APSFR). The plans must be coordinated at the level of the River
Basin District (RBD) or other Unit of Management (UoM) as defined under Article
3(2)(b). The plans must be prepared by December 2015.
At this stage ideas of how the information reported on FRMPs might be disseminated
and visualised needs further consideration. Reporting of river basin management
plans under the WFD has also yet to be finalised, and there may be opportunities to
establish links between the two reporting sheets.
Based on the core requirements of the Directive, including those elements set out in
Annex 1, the reporting sheets would be likely o incorporate information on objectives
and measures (including the location of measures), information on the prioritisation of
measures, information on measuring progress towards implementing and monitoring
measures.

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6.

Road map to reporting of the Floods Directive

A. This concept document represents the first step in the process of developing
reporting for the Floods Directive. It was discussed at the October 2008 meeting of
Working Group F on Floods, and also with the WFD CIS Working Group D on
Reporting and the WISE Steering Group. The latter comprises representatives of the
Commission, EEA, JRC and Eurostat. It is expected that the concept report will be
largely finalised and agreed after a round of comment and revision by the first half of
2009.
B. The next step in the process will be the development and agreement of
Reporting sheets that will describe in detail the information required. This approach
has successfully been used for reporting under the WFD. There will be a separate
sheet for each main element of the required information such as on Competent
Authorities, Units of Management and PFRAs. Each sheet contains an explanation of
why the information is needed, how the Commission will use it and details of the
geographic information, data and textual information required. An example, the
Competent Authority Reporting sheet for the WFD is available in the "Updated
reporting guidance 2004-2005" available on CIRCA (see reporting sheets CA1 and
RBD1)
A drafting group was set up at the WG F meeting in October 2008 with the task of
developing reporting sheets starting with sheets for Competent Authorities (CA),
Units of Management (UoM) (other than WFD RBDs) and components of the
Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment. It is anticipated that drafting of the first
Reporting sheets will start during the early part of 2009 and be completed and
approved by Water Directors by end of 2009.
C. Once Reporting sheets have been finalised and agreed the next step will be the
development of appropriate tools for the first reporting/notification steps for the
CA, UoM and PFRA. For the WFD this has been facilitated by the use of XML
reporting schemas and EEA Reportnet tools. GIS information has been reported as
GML or shape files. Such tools may be developed and used for FD reporting with the
aim of completion during the latter part of 2009, and testing during 2010.
D. During 2010 it is proposed that all Reporting sheets for remaining reporting
requirements will be completed. Reporting formats for remaining sheets (flood
hazard and flood risk maps and FRMP) will be developed and tested during 2010
and 2011.
E. A work plan for the consideration of Floods Directive relevant items in the
implementation of INSPIRE will be developed.
F. A workplan for development of relevant complements to Member States reporting
into WISE, such as the creation of a database on past floods will be developed for
action at Community level.

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Annex A :

List of proposed Reporting Sheets

A. CA (Competent Authorities)
B. UOM (Units of management)
C. PFRA (Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment)
D. FHM (Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Maps)
E. FRMP (Flood risk management plans)

(GIS (Geographic Information Requirements and Feature-Attributes) )

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Annex B : Thematic spatial satasets covered by the

INSPIRE Directive
Annex I
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Coordinate reference systems

Geographical grid systems
Geographical names
Administrative units
Addresses
Cadastral parcels
Transport networks
Hydrography: Hydrographic elements, including marine areas and all other water bodies
and items related to them, including river basins and sub-basins. Where appropriate,
according to the definitions set out in Directive 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) and in the form of networks.
9. Protected sites

Annex II
1. Elevation: Digital elevation models for land, ice and ocean surface. Includes terrestrial
elevation, bathymetry and shoreline.
2. Land cover: Physical and biological cover of the earth's surface including artificial
surfaces, agricultural areas, forests, (semi-)natural areas, wetlands, water bodies.
3. Orthoimagery: Geo-referenced image data of the Earth's surface, from either satellite or
airborne sensors.
4. Geology: Geology characterised according to composition and structure. Includes
bedrock, aquifers and geomorphology

Annex III
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Statistical units
Buildings
Soil
Land use
Human health and safety
Utility and governmental services includes utility facilities such as sewage, waste
management, energy supply and water supply, administrative and social governmental
services such as public administrations, civil protection sites, schools and hospitals.
7. Environmental monitoring facilities
8. Production and industrial facilities
9. Agricultural and aquaculture facilities
10. Population distribution demography
11. Area management/restriction/regulation zones and reporting units
12. Natural risk zones: Vulnerable areas characterised according to natural hazards (all
atmospheric, hydrologic, seismic, volcanic and wildfire phenomena that, because of their
location, severity, and frequency, have the potential to seriously affect society), e.g.
floods, landslides and subsidence, avalanches, forest fires, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions.
13. Atmospheric conditions
14. Meteorological geographical features
15. Oceanographic geographical features
16. Sea regions
17. Bio-geographical regions
18. Habitats and biotopes
19. Species distribution
20. Energy resources
21. Mineral resources

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