EnvironmentEN2BDevelop systematic approaches for routinely sharing water resources information with the public

In Zambia, the Environment Management Act of 2011 established that the Minister shall, within two years of the commencement of the Act and every five years thereafter, publish a State of the Environment Report.

The report shall provide information on the quality of the environment, including the following:

• Describe the quality of the environment and the results of environmental quality monitoring.
• Describe any significant adverse effects that have been caused, are being caused or are likely to be caused in the foreseeable future, and where possible, identify the causes and trends.
• Describe the monitoring, enforcement and other measures which have been, and are being, taken to address the causes of the adverse effects and to improve environmental quality.
• With respect to international agreements and negotiations relating to the environment in Zambia, the regional or the global environment, report on all agreements to which Zambia is a party, and on their domestic implementation, and report on negotiations in which Zambia has participated since the previous State of the Environment Report.

The section on water includes commentaries on water availability, surface water potential, groundwater potential, total water resources potential, change in ecosystem processes, wetlands, water accessibility and water quality.

In the EU, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) established a framework for the assessment, management, protection, and improvement of the quality of water resources across the EU. As en example, the European Commission produced a report on the state of Europe’s water in 2018, with these key messages.

• Of the different water bodies recognised by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) across Europe, groundwater generally have the best status. Good chemical status has been achieved for 74% of the groundwater area, while 89% of the area achieved good quantitative status.
• Around 40% of surface waters (rivers, lakes, and transitional and coastal waters) are in good ecological status or potential, and only 38% are in good chemical status.
• In most Member States, a few priorities substances account for poor chemical status, the most common being mercury. If mercury and other ubiquitous priority substances were omitted, only 3% of surface water bodies would fail to achieve good chemical status. Improvements for individual substances show that Member States are making progress in tackling the sources of contamination.
• Overall, the second River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) show limited change in status, as most water bodies have the same status in both cycles. The proportion of water bodies with unknown status has decreased and confidence in status assessment has grown. Improvements are usually visible at the level of individual quality elements or pollutants but often do not translate into improved status overall.
• The main significant pressures on surface water bodies are hydro morphological pressures (40%), diffuse sources (38%), particularly from agriculture, and atmospheric deposition (38%), particularly of mercury, followed by point sources (18%) and water abstraction (7%).
• Member States have made marked efforts to improve water quality or reduce pressure on hydro morphology. Some of the measures have had an immediate effect; others will result in improvements in the longer term.