In addition to the Ministry of the Environment, the group consists of The Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Care Services, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Directorates under these ministries are also involved in the implementation of WFD in Norway.
A committee composed by representatives from nine directorates has been permanently established to coordinate the implementation of the WFD:

• the Directorate for Nature Management (committee chair),
• the Directorate of Fisheries,
• the Norwegian Institute for Public Health,
• the Norwegian Coastal Administration,
• the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate,
• the Norwegian Public Roads Administration,
• the Norwegian Food Safety Authority,
• the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority and
• the Norwegian Agriculture Authority.

This group has an important function, as adviser both to the ministries and to the RBD authorities, and furthermore it coordinates Norwegian participation in the European Common Implementation Strategy for the WFD.

A national reference group has been established, composed of 11 national organisations representing various branch organizations, user interests and the Norwegian Association for Local and Regional Authorities. The function of the National Reference Group is to give advice to the Directorate Committee.

Several guidance documents on how to implement the WFD in the RBDs have been prepared by the Directorate Committee. They are aimed at facilitating the implementation, as well as securing comparability across the nine RBDs and more than 200 sub-districts.

 

Guideline documents available or under final stages of preparation by early 2009:

• Methodology for the characterisation of water bodies in Norway
• Guidelines for the preparation of RBMPs (including separate guidelines for the development of the work programmes)
• Guidelines for the preparation of Programme of Measures to improve the environmental status of the water bodies
• Guidelines on how to monitor water bodies and how to set up monitoring programmes  

Guidelines concerning the Classification system and guidelines concerning Heavily Modified Water Bodies are under preparation. The written guidance documents are supplemented by conferences and seminars.

All relevant data in the different databases of various national authorities has been made accessible on the internet through a GIS-based tool called Vann-Nett ( http://vann-nett.nve.no/innsyn/ ). Data on the environmental status of the water bodies, as well as the pressures on these water bodies, is thus available both to water management experts as well as to local stakeholders and the general public who might be interested in the status of “their local water body”.

 

The Vann-Nett tool will also facilitate reporting from Norway to the WISE system,

in accordance with ESA and the WFD.