The WFD Dreams: between ecology and economics

8 The enactment of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the European Union triggers 9 intense activity among Member States and raises some criticisms. The good status of waters 10 may include an ecological dream that is difficult to achieve. Moreover, criteria for derogations 11 require strong economic arguments. This challenge raises the debate whether the WFD is part 12 of an incremental process, embedded in prior European water law, with feasible goals, or 13 whether it is a dramatic change of policy towards an ecological dream which emerged during 14 late negotiations, therefore hardly achievable. I will state that although the high ecological 15 ambition of the WFD is unprecedented within the EU’s water law, it has several precedents in 16 other arenas, notably long enforced in the United States of America. I will argue that the 17 major challenge of the directive is the combination of the ecological dream with an economic 18 ideal, which has no equivalent in the US. 19