The Water Framework Directive aims to maintain or improve the status of water bodies throughout the European Union.
In 2000, the European Union Parliament adopted the EC Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (abbreviated to WFD). The aim of the WFD is to achieve or maintain a "good status" of groundwater and surface waters throughout the entire territory of the European Union by the end of 2015 (and in exceptional cases by 2027).
Since the end of December 2009, a programme of measures has been available for the waters of the state of Hesse, which, following a comprehensive deficit analysis, specifies the above-mentioned goal with proposals for measures and actions. To implement the WFD in Bad Homburg, the report "Realization potential of the structural measures proposed for the watercourses and obstacles to migration in the town of Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe" was drawn up. The proposals for action along the watercourses from the program of measures were examined in terms of their feasibility according to the criteria of the specified environmental objectives. As a result, specific measures were developed for the renaturation and restoration of ecological continuity along Homburg's streams, which the town of Bad Homburg is coordinating with the relevant authorities and implementing step by step, in some cases with funding from the state of Hesse.
The implementation of the European WFD at municipal level is a mandatory task. The accompanying monitoring program of the European Union checks the effectiveness of the measures taken. To this end, the state of Hesse will regularly obtain reports and documentation on the status quo of the implementation of measures from the cities and municipalities subject to maintenance obligations.
