River basin districts, condition 22/03/2022

This stock contains the demarcations of the river basin districts (RBD) for the Scheldt and the Meuse as reported to the European Commission in implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC. The WFD aims to safeguard water resources and water quality in Europe, mitigate the effects of floods and droughts and oblige Member States to use water sustainably. The central objective is to achieve the good status of the water system. The demarcated river basin districts constitute an important geographical unit. According to the Integrated Water Policy Decree (Article 1.1.3 §2), a river basin district is the area of land and sea, formed by one or more adjacent river basins with their associated groundwaters, which has been defined as the main unit for river basin management.