This Executive Order establishes the programmes of measures for Denmark’s four river basin districts — Jutland and Funen, Zealand, Bornholm, and the international river basin district — with the aim of achieving the environmental objectives set for rivers, lakes, coastal waters and groundwater. Based on baseline analyses and environmental monitoring, it assigns national agencies and municipalities responsibility for implementing measures to prevent deterioration and improve water status. These include restoring watercourses and lakes, removing physical barriers, reopening culverted sections, reducing pollution from point sources, identifying sources of harmful substances and taking measures to protect groundwater and coastal waters. Authorities must generally make new or revised measures operational within three years, while outstanding point-source measures from earlier planning periods must be completed by 22 December 2027.
The Order permits authorities, under specified conditions, to replace prescribed measures with alternatives that are equally environmentally and economically effective, or to omit measures where they are no longer necessary or cannot be justified in relation to their expected benefits and costs. It also requires all public authorities, when exercising their regulatory powers, to prevent deterioration of water bodies and avoid decisions that would obstruct achievement of the applicable environmental objectives, taking cumulative impacts into account. Detailed, geographically specific measures for individual water bodies are listed in extensive annexes, while further annexes set out the basic and general supplementary measures applicable across the country. The Order implements parts of the EU Water Framework, Groundwater and Environmental Quality Standards Directives.