Water is a fundamental constituent of life and is essential to a wide range of economic
activities. It is also a limited resource, as we are frequently reminded by the tragic
effects of drought in certain parts of the world. Even in areas with high precipitation,
and in major river basins, over-use and mismanagement of water have created
severe constraints on availability. Such problems are widespread and will be made
more acute by the accelerating demand on freshwater arising from trends in economic
development.
Despite of the fact that water-resource management is essentially a local, riverbasin
based activity, there are a number of areas of action that are relevant to all or
significant parts of the European Union and for which it is advisable to pool efforts
for the purpose of understanding relevant phenomena (e.g. pollution, geochemical
studies), developing technical solutions and/or defining management procedures. One
of the keys for successful cooperation aimed at studying hydrology, water monitoring,
biological activities, etc., is to achieve and ensure good water quality measurements.