Institutional Support to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (mesp) and River Basin Authorities cris n° 2008/162-152

Executive summary

Project scope and environment

This Project is part of the effort to prepare Kosovo’s administration for the country’s accession to the EU. It addresses the information gaps and the capacity of the administration to implement important Directives in the water sector, the Water Framework Directive and the Flood Risk Directive and to a lesser extent the Urban Wastewater Directive. The Project area is the Drini River Basin, the largest River Basin in Kosovo, which also comprises parts of Albania and Macedonia.

Kosovo is facing very serious environmental issues: almost all municipalities discharge waste waters directly into rivers, the construction boom generates massive extraction of gravel in river beds and the ground waters are contaminated in many places. The resulting health hazard for the population is alarming. There are other consequences such as increased erosion and scarcity of potable water. In order to raise the population’s awareness, a documentary was produced at the end of the project and presented these issues and project activities.

As yet there are no efficient financial or legislative mechanisms providing incentives to reduce the pressure on available water resources. Moreover, information is missing because the monitoring system is still under reconstruction. Environmental pressure groups are not yet strong enough to effectively support resource protection. In addition, poor employment conditions and insufficient budgets in the water administration affect the performance of tasks requiring often specialist skills.

Since the end of the 1999 war, the donor community has been providing support to enhance the institutions’ capacity. Also the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) has supported the reconstruction of the hydrological monitoring network and the strengthening of the capacity of the MESP. A task force, including Ministries concerned with water issues, was created at Prime Ministry level and is supported by the Swiss Cooperation Agency.

Since the beginning of the Project, the MESP Permanent Secretary was changed four times, and the Water Director three times. There were also long periods with an Acting Permanent Secretary. These changes had a harmful impact on improvements to the legislative and institutional framework.

Another factor affecting the Project was the change in the EU administration. Initially the Project was managed by EAR. In June 2008, it was handed over to ECLO. During a three-month handover period no experts or incidental budgets for Project activities could be approved. The Project adapted to this situation and, at the request of the Water Department, undertook additional activities as the filling of information gaps by implementing four Pilot Projects that was not foreseen in the ToR.

The Project’s contribution to the achievement of Results

Result 1 - Water Information System (WIS)

During the Project’s term the information needs for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Flood Risk Directive (FRD) were assessed and data gaps documented. To fill the information gaps and test data acquisition protocols, four pilot projects were implemented in specific zones of the 'Drini i Bardhë' River Basin. Biological, hydrogeological and hydrological data were acquired in the summer of 2008 and 2009.

A Water Information System (WIS) tailored to MESP needs was progressively set up. A WIS monitoring group conducted these activities. A major WIS component is a geographical information system (GIS) managed by ArcGIS software. This was used to produce more than 70 water resource and management maps in subject areas such as hydrogeology, land use, monitoring systems, irrigation perimeters and water sources. The WIS also includes databases for water monitoring data, water body characterisation and permit issuing. The data acquired were recorded and captured in the databases using standard forms.

To facilitate water information dissemination, web-based applications were also installed on the Ministry of Public Service’s server. They included a Data Catalogue providing information about data and a Web Portal where files and documents can be accessed through the internet. The Project designed a website www.kosovo-water.eu to present its achievements.

Progress was also achieved in data quality assurance. GIS layers of river basin boundaries were corrected.

Result 2 - Monitoring Network Programme

The Project supported the Water Department with the preparation of strategies for surface and groundwater monitoring including priority parameters. Standard sampling and analytical protocols and software for the evaluation of quality elements (e.g. macro-invertebrates and fish) for surface water body status, according to WFD requirements, were introduced tested and validated.

The Groundwater Pilot Project, implemented near Istok, collected basic data to assess aquifer and groundwater characteristics (e.g. permeability, depth to water level, groundwater elevation, direction of flux and chemical composition).

The staffs of the WD, HMIK and KEPA were trained to use these protocols. Through these pilot projects and other related Project activities the WD staff acquired the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake similar activities in other parts of Kosovo. However, the WD and HMIK do not yet have the capacity to control, validate and correctly analyse data. The role of the different institutions, especially the collection of biological and groundwater data, has still to be clarified.

Result 3 – Tools for Water Resource Assessment and Planning

The Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP) was applied to the situation in the Drini River Basin. WEAP is a computer modelling tool for water management. The Project used good quality historical river flow data of the period from 1950 to 1986 as inputs to validate this model for this basin. It was also applied specifically on the Decani-Radoniqi water system. The outputs of the model are graphics and other visual displays, which over a period of time and at various locations provide an assessment of water demand, available resources and the resulting river flow mass balance.

Field information is important to correctly interpret the outputs of the WEAP model and so information was collected on actual perimeters and losses in irrigated canals.

Based on these data, the WEAP model allowed scenarios to be built on available water supplies and the allocation of water. The model water demands included water use for domestic purposes, irrigation, industry and environmental flow (E-flow for fish survival). The analyses of the outputs from different scenarios provide information in order to select options for optimising water allocation. Analyses of various scenarios were used to formulate an Indicative Water Management Plan for the Decan-Radoniqi pilot area.

Result 4 - Flood Risk Management Plan and Wastewater Study TOR

A pilot project on flood risk management was implemented in the municipality of Skenderaj. This pilot project acquired topographic data in the pilot flooding zone, which was used for the production of flood inundation and flood risk maps. The methodology was aligned to the respective EU flood risk management directive. Furthermore, maps were produced to delineate zones with low, medium and high flood risk.

Based on this information, and other hydraulic data, various measures for flood prevention and protection of people, buildings, infrastructure and natural resources were proposed.

The methodology and the maps were presented to and discussed with Skenderaj Municipality; moreover practical and urgent measures were proposed to reduce the impact of flooding. Based on experience gained in the Pilot Project on Flooding in Skenderaj, criteria for flood risk assessment in other parts of the Drini Basin can be derived and presented to a wider audience.

In addition, the Project prepared the Terms of Reference (ToR) for a comprehensive Water Supply and Wastewater Investment Study in Kosovo. The ToR were discussed during a Donor’s meeting in January 2009.

Result 5 - Institutional Development of River Basin District Authorities

To comply with the EU Water Framework Directive, Member States must ensure that the appropriate administrative arrangements, including the identification of an appropriate competent authority, are initiated. This is the prerequisite for the application of the Directive’s rules within each River Basin District lying within their territory.

Kosovo has four River Basins in its territory that are part of an international River Basin District. Administrative arrangements are crucial for the enforcement of WFD rules. The Project submitted a document and proposals to the WD and MESP for the development of River Basin Institutions in Kosovo, including an organisational structure, staffing and budget estimates. The development of appropriate River Basin administrative arrangements and the reinforcement of staff working on River Basin entities highly depend on the financial support received from the government.

Result 6 - Training & Capacity-building.

The Project has substantially contributed to capacity building in different technical fields of the Project such as information systems, monitoring, River Basin planning, flood risk mapping, groundwater assessment, data validation and analysis.

Various types of training activities were carried out and included on-the-job training in small groups, training on specific issues (e.g. English training, GIS, and data analysis), study tours, as well as workshops and presentations at the end of each expert’s mission.

The training focused on methodologies, protocols for data acquisition, measurements in the field, recording measurements and data on standard forms, and capturing data in computers. The Project also raised the awareness of MESP staff on data validation procedures. To this end, the Project organised several study tours to EU Member States, including France and Bulgaria, during which best practices in subjects such as hydrology, quality management for laboratory analysis, and River Basin management were shown to groups of five to ten water professionals from Kosovo.

Article 14 of Water Framework Directive requires stakeholder consultation and public participation. Progress was made in this field especially during workshops organised by the Project.

While MESP staff skills have improved, in many fields the staff’s capacity is insufficient to perform complex analytical tasks required for water management or flood risk planning. This is especially the case where sophisticated software is needed for data processing, data control and interpretation of results.

Often these tasks require high-level qualifications and many years of experience to be correctly performed. External support for some of these complex tasks will be needed over the coming years. To attract well qualified and skilled specialists it is recommended to improve the conditions of employment in the public sector.

Recommendations for continuation

The different inter-institutional working groups, which were established by the Project, should meet every six months to define and oversee a working plan allocating various tasks to its participants. The topics of these groups were WIS, biological status and monitoring, groundwater, water allocation and water balance.

There is still a need to clarify the responsibilities of the different data producers. Collaborative work should, however, continue taking into account the skills acquired by staff during the Project.

To continue each methodology the Project developed various steps and proposed necessary support for the implementation. Specific attention should be paid to:

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  Proper maintenance of equipment, computers, archives, web-applications, GIS and databases should be carried out.
  
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  Motivated officers who are willing to continue Project activities in collaboration with the University or other partners, should be continuously supported by the MESP hierarchy.
  
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  The allocation of a sufficient budget for MESP activities needs to be provided.
  
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  The planning of external support in collaboration with other institutions needs to be initiated.
  
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  The involvement of stakeholders in the planning of water sector needs to be continued.
  

The implementation of an ECLO twinning Project to further develop an environmental monitoring system will provide opportunities to continue data acquisition and institutional strengthening. The methods introduced and successfully tested and validated by the Project will be useful for this.

In the long run, all policy-making instruments should be introduced, including:

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  Economic instruments such as taxes, through the “polluters-pay”-principle, and subsidies for investment.
  
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  Reinforcement of education and encouragement to use good practice and environment friendly technologies.
  
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  Legal instruments, including permitting, inspections and sanctions against law breakers. The effectiveness of the judiciary system is critical in this regard.
  
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  Efficient communication to change people’s behaviour and everyday habits to environmental protection.
  

Finally, it should be recalled that the mid-term Project Monitoring Mission highlighted the need to enhance the water administration’s capacity to attract young, skilled and motivated specialists by improving conditions of employment in the water public sector.