River Basin Districts
The basic unit at which the directive is implemented is the River Basin District. Each District is, as far as possible, a hydrologically-discrete area comprising a group of catchments termed River Basins. All water bodies (including coastal and transitional waters) are assigned to a River Basin Disitrict.

Characterisation
Once River Basin Districts have been identified, the water bodies within each District are identified and classified according to their physical and biological characteristics (as required by Article 5 of the Directive). Reference conditions for ‘good status’ are defined, environmental pressures and impacts are identified and an economic analysis of water use is undertaken. The resulting characterisation reports for each River Basin District are published and submitted to the EU. This characterisation report is used to identify any water bodies within the District that are ‘at risk’ of failing to meet the environmental objectives by 2015 and to develop a Programme of Measures to ensure they do meet the objectives.

River Basin Management Planning
A Management Plan for each River Basin District must be produced by 2009 and will be reviewed every six years starting in 2015. For cross-border River Basins, the relevant Member States must work together to produce an International River Basin Management Plan. The plans will report on:

• the authorities responsible for management of the River Basin
• the character of the River Basin District
• monitoring networks set up
• an economic analysis of water usage
• the relevant environmental objectives that must be met and the Programme of Measures needed to ensure water bodies meet these objectives
• a register of Protected Areas within the Basin
• the consultation activities that have been undertaken to support the production of these Management Plans

Is ‘good status’ by 2015 an achievable target for all water bodies?
The Directive recognises that under specific and limited circumstances it may not be realistic to set 2015 as the deadline for achieving ‘good status’ for all water bodies. Article 4 of the Directive allows a derogation (waiver) such that a water body can be deemed exempt from meeting the good status objective by 2015. There are three bases on which a derogation can be granted:

1. A water body is so affected by human activity or its natural condition is such that meeting the environmental objectives would be infeasible or disproportionately expensive (i.e. heavily-modified and artificial water bodies). In this scenario the water body is only required to meet less stringent environmental objectives.
   
   
2. For a water body to achieve the environmental objectives by 2015 would be ‘disproportionately expensive’ or the magnitude of improvement needed is only achievable in a timeframe exceeding the 2015 timescale ‘for reasons of technical feasibility’ or the ‘natural condition’ of the water body. In this scenario the deadline for meeting the environmental objectives will be extended.
   
   
3. If the water body is affected by an exceptional ‘natural cause or force majeur’ which could not reasonably have been foreseen e.g. extreme flooding or prolonged drought. In this scenario a temporary derogation will be granted.
   

Article 4 also outlines specific conditions which must be met for the derogation to be given and states that the deadlines for achieving the environmental objectives cannot  be postponed indefinitely – the maximum derogation is until 2027 (two cycles of River Basin Planning). In every cycle of River Basin Planning, a justification for derogation must be published in the Management Plan.

Groundwater bodies are considered to be at particular danger of failing to meet the environmental objectives by 2015. Since 1945 nitrate concentrations in UK groundwater have increased considerably. Time lags and the residence time of water in an aquifer means that reversing this increasing trend may not be achievable within the 2015 timeframe  for some water bodies ⁽¹⁾.

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References
1. UK Groundwater Forum (2005) Groundwater Issues: Implications of the Water Framework Directive. http://www.groundwateruk.org/html/issues3_1.htm