Drought mitigation is mainly regulated in 2 documents – the Water Framework Directive and the Water Law.
DIRECTIVE 2000/60/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy
Article 13
5. River basin management plans may be supplemented by the production of more detailed programs and management plans for sub-basin, sector, issue, or water type, to deal with particular aspects of water management. Implementation of these measures shall not exempt Member States from any of their obligations under the rest of this Directive.
The Water Law Act of 20 July 2017 New Water Law (Journal of Laws 2017, item 1566), in force as of 1 January 2018, excluding some provisions, as defined by the act.
Article 183
Protection against drought is the task of the government and local government administration authority and Polish Waters.
Article 185
1. The draft plan to prevent the effects od drought is prepared by Polish Waters in agreement with the minister competent for agriculture, minister competent for rural development, minister competent for fisheries, minister competent for inland waterways issues and voivods, including division of the country into river basins
6. The minister competent for water management shall adopt and update a plan to prevent the effects od drought, by way of a regulation, guided by the need to counteract the effects of drought.
European Commission (EC) guidelines
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council addressing the challenge of water scarcity and droughts in the European Union of 18 July 2007, (COM(2007) 414).
It draws attention to the increasing occurrence of droughts due to climate change. As a way to minimise the negative effects of this phenomenon, it proposed, among other things:
1. continued implementation of the WFD (Water Framework Directive), in particular by setting an appropriate price for water in line with the ‘user pays’ principle,
2. allocating water more efficiently among water users, prioritising possible solutions to water scarcity problems,
3. using and promoting technologies and practices that enable rational and efficient water management improving knowledge and data collection on drought.
Report on the Review of the European Water Scarcity and Drought Policy of 14 November 2012 (COM(2012) 672).
It attempts to assess the performance of the 2007 Water Scarcity and Drought Communication, concluding that the overall objective of the water scarcity and drought policy had not been achieved. According to the EC, Member States recognised that water scarcity and droughts policy was to some extent self-contained, and that it was most important to place more emphasis on water quantity issues in the implementation of the WFD. As recommended by the EC, the next planning cycles of WFD implementation should ensure and further integrate water scarcity and drought issues into various sectoral policies.
