Governance on Point? An Assessment of the Permitting, Supervision and Enforcement Processes for Point Source Discharges in The Netherlands

The European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) (WFD) aims to protect inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. The overarching goal of the WFD is to reach a good aquatic ecosystem throughout all of Europe. With the aim of reaching this goal, article 4 of the WFD sets certain environmental objectives. According to article 4 of the WFD, all the surface water bodies falling under its scope should be of good chemical and ecological quality by the end of 2027, as most extension deadlines will expire. For artificial and heavily modified surface water bodies—which make up the vast majority in the Netherlands—the goal is not to achieve a good ecological status but instead a good ecological potential and a good chemical status. Point source discharges may have a major impact on water quality and in order to progress, a well-functioning permitting, supervision and enforcement (PSE) process is of considerable interest. So far little academic attention has been paid to the functioning and quality of the governance processes underlying the PSE process. This paper aims to reduce this knowledge gap by conducting a case study on Sitech, the wastewater company for the Chemelot industrial complex in Geleen in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands. We first elaborate on an assessment framework consisting of 18 good governance criteria. The framework is used to assess the permitting, supervision and enforcement process concerning the discharges of Chemelot industrial plant. Our assessment reveals that, despite significant improvements over the last decade, good governance in this case is only partially achieved. While in terms of accountability and resilience the process shows robust strengths, gaps are found in its inclusiveness, effectiveness and transparency. We conclude our paper with some reflections on the generalizability of our findings and some suggestions for further research and policymaking.