The Institute for Infrastructure and Resources Management (IIRM) at the
University of Leipzig pursues an integrative approach that addresses
economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainable resources
management in the relevant fields of energy, water, land-use and waste.
The IIRM research activities focus on solving environmental and energy
related infrastructure problems and are geared to provide scientific
support for decision makers on corporate, municipal, national and global
levels. The European Water Framework Directive aims at reaching good
status of all European water bodies by 2015. With Article 4, the
European Water Framework Directive recognises the need for an efficient
use of financial resources in achieving its objectives. The presented
guideline proposes a feasible methodology for assessing disproportional
costs for potential measures through a non monetary cost-benefit
assessment. The approach can be used to justify exemptions, if good
status of a water body could not be achieved due to disproportional cost