Preliminary assessment of flood risk (to be concluded by 22 December 2011; updates every 6 years)
The Member States are required to make a preliminary flood risk assessment for each river basin or sub-basin on their territory and to determine those areas presenting a potentially significant flood risk.
The assessment includes a delimitation of the catchments and sub-basins in the river basin district, a description of flood events in the past and the probability of future floods as well as an estimation of the potential negative consequences taking into account long term developments, such as effects of climate change on the occurrence of floods.