In the following, we present the context of water management in the Eifel-Rur
region, describe some drought actions which have already been implemented,
explain the results of our analysis in terms of the Governance Assessment Toolkit
and present our recommendations for improved drought governance in the region.
An aspect of the Eifel-Rur water management system which is central for its
drought governance is the water rights’ system in place. The region’s water rights—
some of them centuries old—provide their owners with very strong legal claims to
the resource; furthermore, the current system of rights and charges does not provide
real incentives for users to reduce their water rights/water use. These features make
the demand side of the water system very inflexible. In addition, the region’s
significant number of reservoirs allows for a very stable supply of water over time,
which means that users are not prone to include risks related to water supply into
their risk strategies. This lack of flexibility poses significant challenges for drought
management, some of which are taken up in the final section “Conclusions and
Case-Specific Recommendations”.
4.2 The Who, What and When of Drought Governance
in the Eifel-Rur Region
4.2.1 Water Management in North Rhine-Westphalia
In Germany, the EU’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) was transposed into
national law via the seventh amendment to the Federal Water Act
(Wasserhaushaltsgesetz, WHG) in June 2002.
1 Due to a major restructuring of
responsibilities and competencies between the Federal Government and the German
Länder in 2006, the German water legislation was modified in 2009; the modified
Federal Water Act entered into force in 2010.
According to this act, in their implementation of the WFD the German federal
states must adopt their state water laws to encompass water protection and to formulate the roles for cities, municipalities and water authorities, who bear the concrete
responsibility for implementing measures. In the case of North Rhine-Westphalia, the
responsibility for developing the river basin management plans lies with the Highest
Level Water Authority which is the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry for
Environment and Nature Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Plans are
adopted in consultation with the High Water Level Authorities (District Councils) and
the responsible committee of the North Rhine-Westphalia regional parliament
(Landtag). Responsibility for implementation lies with lower level public administration, such as districts and cities. Further actors such as nature protection organisations, water associations and regional councils should participate in the planning
and particularly in the implementation process. Regarding water abstractions, it is the
1
Grüne Liga (n.d.): Umsetzung der Richtlinie in deutsches Recht. http://www.wrrl-info.de/docs/
tafel7_a3.pdf.
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R. Vidaurre et al.
region, describe some drought actions which have already been implemented,
explain the results of our analysis in terms of the Governance Assessment Toolkit
and present our recommendations for improved drought governance in the region.
An aspect of the Eifel-Rur water management system which is central for its
drought governance is the water rights’ system in place. The region’s water rights—
some of them centuries old—provide their owners with very strong legal claims to
the resource; furthermore, the current system of rights and charges does not provide
real incentives for users to reduce their water rights/water use. These features make
the demand side of the water system very inflexible. In addition, the region’s
significant number of reservoirs allows for a very stable supply of water over time,
which means that users are not prone to include risks related to water supply into
their risk strategies. This lack of flexibility poses significant challenges for drought
management, some of which are taken up in the final section “Conclusions and
Case-Specific Recommendations”.
4.2 The Who, What and When of Drought Governance
in the Eifel-Rur Region
4.2.1 Water Management in North Rhine-Westphalia
In Germany, the EU’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) was transposed into
national law via the seventh amendment to the Federal Water Act
(Wasserhaushaltsgesetz, WHG) in June 2002.
1 Due to a major restructuring of
responsibilities and competencies between the Federal Government and the German
Länder in 2006, the German water legislation was modified in 2009; the modified
Federal Water Act entered into force in 2010.
According to this act, in their implementation of the WFD the German federal
states must adopt their state water laws to encompass water protection and to formulate the roles for cities, municipalities and water authorities, who bear the concrete
responsibility for implementing measures. In the case of North Rhine-Westphalia, the
responsibility for developing the river basin management plans lies with the Highest
Level Water Authority which is the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry for
Environment and Nature Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Plans are
adopted in consultation with the High Water Level Authorities (District Councils) and
the responsible committee of the North Rhine-Westphalia regional parliament
(Landtag). Responsibility for implementation lies with lower level public administration, such as districts and cities. Further actors such as nature protection organisations, water associations and regional councils should participate in the planning
and particularly in the implementation process. Regarding water abstractions, it is the
1
Grüne Liga (n.d.): Umsetzung der Richtlinie in deutsches Recht. http://www.wrrl-info.de/docs/
tafel7_a3.pdf.
68
R. Vidaurre et al.