This book is the result of a European project on heavily modified water bodies, carried out in the context of the Common Implementation Strategy of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). It presents and synthesises the results of thirty-four European case studies on the identification and designation of heavily modified water bodies.

As part of the EU Water Framework Directive Common Implementation Strategy (EU WFD CIS), a working group was established to develop European guidance on the process of identification and designation of Heavily Modified & Artificial Water Bodies (HMWB & AWB). Ecologic has provided scientific, technical and conceptual support to the CIS Working Group on HMWB (WG 2.2).