"To be truly effective and relevant, environmental policy must be developed together with the actors who will work with it. For the water area, this means involving those who actually use, distribute and treat water such as agriculture, water utilities, industries, the energy or transport sector. This cooperation with EWP and its partners is a crucial step for us in that direction" said Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA.

The Agency and EWP will further cooperate on the implementation of the vision for water in a sustainable Europe, launched in June 2008. As a part of its next "European Environment State and Outlook Report" (SOER) due to be released in late 2010, the EEA will present the priorities and problems in implementing the water vision, as well as the joint efforts environmental and non-environmental stakeholders are taking towards the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, EU's main legislation on water quality.

The second component of the cooperation will consist of  awareness-raising - not only of the public, but also of key actors - to ensure the implementation of the vision as well as the directive. In addition to such initiatives as Eye on Earth – Water Watch to communicate water quality to the public, the EEA has also developed indicators and benchmarking on water use intended for key actors. The cooperation with EWP will promote such methods to wider audiences while encouraging both businesses and users to adopt them for greater transparency.

The final component will consist of improving water information management  in Europe. Currently, nearly all relevant information on policy implementation is brought together in Water Information System for Europe (WISE), a joint development of the EEA, the European Commission and Member States. The cooperation with EWP will supply much-needed direct information from water businesses on water use and efficiency as well as sustainable solutions.

EEA's upcoming work on water

In its next "European Environment State and Outlook Report", the EEA will provide, among others, a comprehensive assessment of the state of the water environment in Europe. This assessment will constitute a baseline, against which subsequent studies may be conducted. From 2012 onwards, it will be possible to assess the improvement in Europe’s water resulting from the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).