The European Water Framework Directive - an example for water management in national and international river basins

Waters in the European Community are under increasing pressure from the continuous growth in demand for sufficient quantities of good quality water for all purposes. It is therefore necessary to develop an integrated Community policy on water. The success of this policy relies on close cooperation and coherent action at Community, Member States and local level as well as on information, consultation and involvement of the public, including users. The objective of achieving good water status needs to be pursued for the whole river basin, so that measures in the same ecological, hydrological and hydrogeological system are coordinated. International river basins like the Rhine basin serve as a positive example for this approach to water management, with their cooperation and joint settings of objectives across Member State borders and even beyond Member States of the European Union (EU).