Water issues

Water cycle issues involve a broad scale of subjects, which range from lack of drinking water and draught in certain areas of our continent (and beyond), to the need for flood control in other regions, as well as maintaining water quality. Also, water in (natural) lakes or rivers is regarded as an important asset both as a natural resource and from a landscape point of view, which includes its importance for agriculture and tourism. These issues have become largely interlinked in recent years and, due to climate change and related events worldwide, have attracted increased attention.
From this perspective, the EU and national governments now often require the subject of water cycle management to be integrated in any (rural) development plan for a region. The EU also takes water issues and projects into account in many of their programmes, for example in the subject of risk prevention (that includes flood management, but also drought and forest fires), which is one of the main themes of the new EU Structural Funds for 2007-2013.

We are currently working together with several private and public organisations to develop new projects in the field of water cycle management. With support from our network, we can offer you assistance with setting up similar projects in your region, or to integrate water issues in your regional policy and plans.