European Commission assesses water and flood risk management plans of 8 more Member States — in Ireland 3.7% of surface water bodies have good chemical status, while the status of 92.5% remains unknown
On 5 October 2026 the European Commission published new reports on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the Floods Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, covering Member States that did not provide data in time for the initial reports of February 2025. The assessments of third River Basin Management Plans and second Flood Risk Management Plans concern Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia.
- According to the Commission, the reports confirm the trends of the February 2025 assessment: pollution — especially diffuse nutrient pollution, alongside chemical pollution — remains one of the biggest obstacles to good ecological and chemical status, and disruption of natural river flows and other hydromorphological pressures also remain significant obstacles. The assessments highlighted persistent pressures from pollution, insufficient monitoring and a lack of ambition and funding.
- The example of Ireland (staff working document SWD(2026) 701 of 2 October 2026): the share of surface water bodies in good chemical status fell from 6.9% in the second plan to 3.7% in the third, and the status of 92.5% is unknown. 23 priority substances are monitored in rivers and lakes and 36 in transitional and coastal waters. 53.4% of water bodies are in good or high ecological status (45.5% in the second plan).
- Ireland’s National Water Quality Monitoring Programme for 2022–2027 covers 2,778 surface water bodies (2,429 rivers, 224 lakes, 80 transitional and 45 coastal waters). The Commission points to gaps: in rivers macrophytes are monitored at only 2% of sites, phytobenthos at 7% and fish at 5%; in coastal and transitional waters transparency, thermal conditions, salinity and acidification are not monitored, and of the nutrients only phosphorus is monitored, not nitrogen.
- Quantitative monitoring covers 9.7% of Ireland’s groundwater bodies (24.3% of their area), up from 8.8% in the previous plan. The Commission also updated its assessment of the marine programmes of measures of Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Greece and Malta. For Slovakia the new document concerns flood risk management — the assessment of its third River Basin Management Plans was published in February 2025.