Article 4 › 3

Member States may designate a body of surface water as artificial or heavily modified, when: (a) the changes to the hydromorphological characteristics of that body which would be necessary for achieving good ecological status would have significant adverse effects on: (i) the wider environment; (ii) navigation, including port facilities, or recreation; (iii) activities for the purposes of which water is stored, such as drinking-water supply, power generation or irrigation; (iv) water regulation, flood protection, land drainage, or (v) other equally important sustainable human development activities; (b) the beneficial objectives served by the artificial or modified characteristics of the water body cannot, for reasons of technical feasibility or disproportionate costs, reasonably be achieved by other means, which are a significantly better environmental option. Such designation and the reasons for it shall be specifically mentioned in the river basin management plans required under Article 13 and reviewed every six years.

1 national measure recorded under this provision, in 1 form — sign in to view the analysis.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-08-09