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 water management integration in the Netherlands,
Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. It is based on the
European research project EUWARENESS. Per country two case studies are
considered, to analyze specific regime transitions at water basin level
during the last decades. The twelve case studies are discussed within
their national context and compared on conditions that are important for
regime change towards sustainability. The book also provides theory on
water governance, institutional regimes, and property rights, resulting
in a tool for monitoring the progress of integrated water management at
the basin level in EU member states or other countries.
This book follows another volume published with Kluwer Academic
Publishers on "The Evolution of National Water Regimes in Europe",
edited by Ingrid Kissling-Näf and Stefan Kuks.
