Human activities exert pressure on water. Overexploitation and water pollution, especially in Eastern European countries, threaten future availability of clean water. Willing to complement the EU's efforts to halt this trend, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) promotes water policy cooperation between the EU and its Eastern and Southern neighbours. To support the effort, the European Commission has issued a guide to sustainable use and management of water for its European neighbours and Russia.

Drafted by Ecologic Fellows Eleftheria Kampa and Anna Leipprand and Alumnus Jessica Ward the guide outlines the benefits deriving from compliance with EU water policies like the WFD (EC Water Framework Directive). However, the environmental and socio-economic gains associated with these successes will not materialise unless the main challenges to convergence are overcome. To achieve this goal, the guide serves as a roadmap toward sustainable water management.

The guide is the results of Ecologic's project Environmental Components of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The guide can be downloaded in four languages:

English [pdf, 1.6 MB]
French [pdf, 1.2 MB]
Russian [pdf, 1.3 MB]
Arabic [pdf, 1.3 MB]

This guide on water policy is part of a series of short convergence guides for ENP Partners and Russia published by the European Commission. Their purpose is to help EU neighbours realise the benefits associated with ENP Action Plans.

The following guides have been published in this series:

Covergence with Nature Protection Policies
Convergence with EU Air Pollution Policies
Convergence with EU IPPC Policies
Convergence with EU Waste Policies
Convergence with EU Water Policies
Horizontal Environmental EC Legislation