The Water Governance in Western EECCA project aims to develop Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in six countries. It focuses on adopting EU water quality standards, building institutional capacity for river basin management, and improving water legislation. Five partner countries have agreed to new water quality standards, while Belarus is considering adopting the system. The project supports long-term improvements to water quality and management, though environmental priorities remain low in the partner countries.

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The People Behind the Projects
Environment > Water governance in the Western EECCA > Interview with Steve Warren
Water quality at stake
For two years an EU-funded project has been working to help develop
Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in Belarus, Ukraine,
Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The €3 million two-year project, Water Governance in the Western
EECCA countries has helped promote changes in water law, build
institutional capacities, improve technical data exchange and introduce
new methodologies.
The project has been able to assist each of the partner countries with
advice on different aspects of water legislation, Team Leader Steve Warren
says in an interview with the ENPI Info Centre. “Five of the six countries
have agreed a new system of water quality standards and a sixth, Belarus,
is considering the advantages of changing to the new system.”
N Steve Warren Q: What is the project trying to achieve?
Steve Warren: The project aims at supporting the development of Integrated Water Resource
Management (IWRM) in the six project countries – Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbai-
jan and Georgia.
The six countries currently manage water in ways derived from the former Soviet system in which
planning is concerned mainly with ensuring the availability of sufficient water resources and not
at all with water quality. It takes a rather narrow view of water and has no place for stakeholder
participation. In contrast to this IWRM is a process of setting and achieving objectives for water
bodies that:
• Uses the entire river basin as the management unit;
• Includes water in all its forms (surface and underground);
• Takes account of all water uses, actual, prospective and potential;
• Takes account of the effects of water (flooding, erosion, etc.);
• Takes account of quantity & quality;
• Considers water-related resources (wetlands, riparian habitats etc.);
This publication does • Takes account of the needs and views of stakeholders and of public opinion.
not represent the
official view of the EC How does it achieve its objectives? What are the areas on which it focuses?
or the EU institutions. The implementation of IWRM requires changes in water law and in institutional structure and
The EC accepts no
function, better technical data and new methodologies.
responsibility or
IWRM is implemented in the EU through the Water Framework Directive but this requires exten-
liability whatsoever
with regard to its sive and very high quality biological monitoring data that does not
at present exist in the EECCA countries. This is a series of interviews with
content.
The project therefore focussed on the acceptance by the partner leaders of projects funded by
countries of a 5-class system of physicochemical water quality stan- the EU’s Regional Programme,
prepared by the ENPI Info Centre.
dards based on different uses for the water. This starting point was
© 2010 ENPI Info Centre / EU
a system developed for Moldova under an OECD project, which was

2. Interview with Steve Warren p. 2
ENPI Info Centre > Environment >Water quality
adapted in each country to accommodate natural background concentrations and, in some ca-
ses, the inclusion of some additional parameters. Each country now has available, and some
have plans to adopt, a system of standards that is very similar for each country. This will facilitate
agreement on the physicochemical status of transboundary water bodies.
This, however, is only a first step. The next will be the acceptance that, for a water body that
does not meet the standards for its uses, these standards will then become the water quality
objective.
This will require the imposition of reduced Emission Limit Values for discharges over a period of
time until the standards are met.
What is the impact on the citizens of partner countries?
Over a period of time (years rather than months) there should be a gradual improvement in
surface water quality and the aquatic environment.
Is it expected to have a long term impact or a ripple effect?
If a country rolls out the adoption of IWRM river basin by river basin there will be a ripple effect
but the real benefits will come when water and environmental quality improve over a period of
years.
What do you consider as your most important achievements?
Five of the six countries have agreed a new system of water quality standards and a sixth, Bela-
rus, is considering the advantages of changing to the new system. We were able to help each of
the partner countries with advice on different aspects of water legislation.
What is the biggest challenge you faced in its implementation?
The biggest difficulty we encountered is common to nearly all the EECCA countries, which is the
low priority afforded to the environment in the partner countries and in consequence the low
level of resources available in the Ministries of Environment to agree and implement changes.
Water Governance in Western EECCA
Assists Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) Countries align with EU standards to
ensure fair distribution of water, and supports the development of regulatory mechanisms and
institutional procedures for River Basin Management Plans
http://wgw.org.ua/about.php
Participating countries Objective
Armenia, Azerbaijan, It aims at helping to reduce pollution, foster fair sharing and effective use of scarce water resources and to
Belarus, Georgia, improve the quality of shared water resources, such as trans-boundary rivers. The project seeks to improve,
Moldova, Ukraine implement and enforce water legislation as well as contribute to convergence on EU standards. The Western
Partner Countries, namely Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the
Timeframe South Caucasus share river basins and waters with the EU, which makes transboundary water management a
2008-2010 crucial issue.
Budget Find out more
€2.2 million + €0.8 Water Governance in Western EECCA fiche www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=209&id_type=10
million for equipment ENPI Info Centre – Environment thematic portal www.enpi-info.eu/list_projects_east.php?subject=6
The ENPI Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional
Information and Communication project
highlighting the partnership between the EU
and Neighbouring countries. The project is
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managed by Action Global Communications.
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