Recoge: 1. Introduction - 2. Water availability, abstraction and supply - 3. Impacts of water abstraction and supply - 4. Water abstraction for industry and energy production - 5. Public water supply - 6. Agricultural water use - 7. Conclusions on future water resource management in Europe.

This report aims to update our knowledge of water stress (a general term that includes drought and water scarcity) in Europe to inform policymakers and interested stakeholders about the current state of play. It presents arguments for a shift from crisis management to risk management, including by putting more emphasis on demand-side measures, such as increasing water use efficiency or organising information campaigns. In order to minimise the impacts of water stress on people and ecosystems across Europe, ecosystem resilience needs to be improved, and the water use efficiency of our socio‐economic systems needs to be increased. For both of these issues policies and regulations at EU level are in place, but their implementation and effectiveness need to be improved.

Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation in a manner that protects human health and the environment are key development and welfare issues. Water resources vary greatly throughout Europe and within regions, and future water availability is likely to be influenced by a number of factors including climate change, especially in coastal areas. This joint report by the European Environment Agency and the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe highlights the state of Europe's water resources, their health implications, and policy initiatives to address these issues. Aspects considered include: drinking and recreational water quality; health impacts such as waterborne diseases and sanitation; irrigation, industrial and agricultural practices; and water pollution.

All over the world countries struggle with water stress. Problems vary from water scarcity and a degrading water quality, to floods and a rising sea level due to climate change. The European Union adopted a Water Framework Directive to improve the sustainability of water management in its member states. Water management should be coordinated at the level of river basins as a whole. Interests of various user groups should be better represented. River basin visions should take into account the impact of all human activities on the status of the resource. Water legislation needs streamlining and more focus on its implementation. The European Union advocates regulating water prices by charging the costs of water services on the basis of full cost recovery and the polluter pays principle. This book examines the development of water management in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. It is based on the European research project EUWARENESS. The authors apply a theoretical framework for the analysis of institutional regimes, water governance and property rights. The evolution of national water resource regimes is described over a period of almost 200 years (1800-2000). The long-term perspective enables the reader to see the conditions under which regime transformation and paradigm change are made possible. The book also includes a critical analysis of policy making by the European Union, and a comparative review and analysis of regime development in the six countries involved. This book is followed by another volume published with Kluwer Academic Publishers on "Integrated Governance and Water Basin Management", edited by Hans Bressers and Stefan Kuks.

This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of the various issues faced by countries in the European Union, where progressing climate change and urbanization pose significant cooperative challenges in a large number of river basins. Conducting a thorough analysis of the intricate web of EU water governance, it reveals that the hydropolitical stability of the European Union is already at risk. Further, given the structural nature of the shortcomings in EU water policy—e.g. the rigidity of the EU’s founding treaties or the institutional complacency of the European Commission—the book argues that these risks are likely to turn into sources of prolonged conflict, unless EU decision-making bodies take steps to address the new hydrological realities early on.

A multi-disciplinary analysis of the evolution of water politics and policy by an international team of distinguished experts. Water management in the Middle Ages in Europe, its evolution in the USA, the elaboration of the European Water Framework Directive, the British experience of water management, the over-exploitation of African aquifers, and the evolution of the water situation in Southern Africa are all examined. This volume underlines the fact that only an integrative and interdisciplinary understanding can lead to genuinely improved water management practices that will not benefit some social groups at the expense of others.