Water management — overview

The pollution and deterioration of our environment and our waters have been of concern for decades and still are.

Water ecosystems are vulnerable to various pressures caused by human activities. This has been recognised by many countries, and several pieces of EU and Member State legislation have been adopted to protect our waters.

The most important legislation in Europe for the protection of our waters is the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It sets up a new legislative approach setting very ambitious objectives for the quality and protection of our waters, and relies on a river basin approach for water management. There are four other pieces of EU water legislation that will remain in place with the WFD: the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, the Bathing Water Directive, the Nitrates Directive and the Drinking Water Directive.

More detailed information on the different pieces of water legislation (and related policies) in the European Community can be obtained from: Water legislation and related policies in the European Community

The following pages describe:

• The Water Framework Directive structure and key principles
• Objectives
• Public participation
• River basin management plans and programme of measures