Since Rüdiger Breuer has given an important impetus towards the making of the Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (Water Framework Directive – WFD), the following paper briefly analyses the Environmental objectives outlined in Article 4 of the Directive. The two most important Environmental objectives are the obligation to prevent deterioration of the status of all bodies of surface water or groundwater and to protect, enhance and restore all bodies of surface water or groundwater with the aim of achieving a good status until the end of 2015. On 1 July the European Court of Justice concluded that these obligations apply not only to the planning process established by the WFD but also to the authorisation of individual projects. Furthermore, the Court stated that a deterioration of the status of a body of surface water is established as soon as the status of at least one of the quality elements, within the meaning of Annex V to the directive, falls by one class, even if that fall does not result in a fall in classification of the body of surface water as a whole. The paper briefly analyses this judgement and the consequences including the relevance of the exemptions to the Environmental objectives.