Modernise water monitoring infrastructure and reach good status for all water bodies

ROADMAP PROGRESS

According to the 2025 GARI, limited overall progress has been recorded across the WB6 in modernising water monitoring infrastructure and achieving good ecological and chemical status of water bodies, with most WB6 at early to intermediate stages of aligning monitoring systems with the Water Framework Directive. Structural constraints, including fragmented governance, insufficient monitoring networks, outdated laboratories and limited operational financing, continue to slow progress; OECD assessments place WB6 water productivity at roughly one third of the EU average. Progress in 2025 was shaped primarily by infrastructure investments under the WBIF, and alignment with the European Water Resilience Strategy remains partial. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the €43.1 million Water and Sanitation Programme II has supported rehabilitation and utility-level monitoring. In Montenegro, major WBIF investments have expanded treatment capacity, though monitoring network density and laboratory capacity remain insufficient. In Serbia, projects such as the €84.8 million Palilula wastewater system in Belgrade embed EU-compliant monitoring, while data integration remains incomplete. In Kosovo*, the €32.8 million Mitrovica wastewater treatment project has expanded collection and monitoring. In North Macedonia, key EU-alignment measures remain pending, and in Albania investment has focused on water supply and sanitation, with limited integration of environmental monitoring.

Note: Action 40 of the first Green Agenda Action Plan (2021–2030) is retained in the Revised Action Plan (2025–2030) as Action 27, which focuses on expanding and modernising water monitoring infrastructure in line with the needs identified in River Basin Management Plans.

Source: Based on Statistical Offices of WB6 and Eurostat. Data compiled in Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) (2024) GARI Annex.

Note: Data coverage for the Western Balkans Six is incomplete.