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The Water Framework Directive expressly defines two basic classes of water, ‘surface water’ and ‘groundwater’. Article 2(1) of the Water Framework Directive defines ‘surface water’ to mean ‘inland waters, except groundwater; transitional waters and coastal waters, except in respect of chemical status for which it shall also include territorial waters’. Article 2(2) of the Water Framework Directive defines ‘groundwater’ to mean ‘all water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil’. As can be seen, the definition of ‘surface water’ refers to four sub-classes of waters: ‘inland waters’, ‘transitional waters’, ‘coastal waters’ and ‘territorial waters’. The first three of these are themselves expressly defined. Article 2(3) of the Water Framework Directive defines ‘inland water’ to mean ‘all standing or flowing water on the surface of the land, and all groundwater on the landward side of the baseline from which the breadth of territorial waters is measured’. Article 2(6) of the Water Framework Directive defines ‘transitional waters’ to mean ‘bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partly saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows’. Article 2(7) of the Water Framework Directive defines ‘coastal water’ to mean ‘surface water on the landward side of a line, every point of which is at a distance of one nautical mile on the seaward side from the nearest point of the baseline from which the breadth of territorial waters is measured, extending where appropriate up to the outer limit of transitional waters’.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.