Five years of EUWI+
Project completion ushers in a new era for water resources management in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood countries
In summer 2021, the project European Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+) will end after five years of intensive cooperation with water experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. These five years have seen the development of eight new management plans for larger and small river basin districts, and three plans have been revised. All plans are now compliant with the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive and set new standards for water resources management and water protection. Their implementation will improve the accessibility and availability of clean water for around 30 million citizens in a river basin covering 500,000 km2.
Water policy instruments
Together with experts from the Umweltbundesamt, the Environment Agency Austria, national water strategies and laws have been brought up to EU standards and more than 500 technical reports, studies and manuals have been produced. They will help public authorities to improve monitoring and afford sustainable protection to groundwater, surface water and coastal water resources in the future, to identify negative environmental impacts and harmful uses and to take appropriate remedial action. The level of public participation in the development of these tools and in the preparation and revision of national water resource management plans was very high: all in all, more than 10,000 people took part in public consultations and events (e.g. clean-up campaigns and designated days with special themes), or benefited from the know-how of their European project partners in workshops, training sessions and river expeditions.
Monitoring instruments
Apart from giving a new direction to water policy and increasing the capacities of national institutions for sustainable water resource management, EUWI+ has strengthened the capacities for new and improved water quality monitoring in the partner countries. Eight laboratories have been renovated, refurbished or supplied with new equipment. On the whole, around 400 new measuring instruments and accessories have been acquired under EUWI+ for fieldwork and water analysis. In 70 training sessions, laboratory staff received training in chemical and biological analysis, laboratory accreditation and quality management. All this makes state-of-the-art water analysis now possible, through which even traces of complex industrial chemicals and pesticides in water can be detected and controlled for the first time.
EUWI+ is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and an EU Member States consortium comprised of the Environment Agency Austria and the International Office for Water (France).
