Towards sustainable water resources management

Abstract

The European Water Framework Directive is the basis of sustainable water resources management in the European Union. The required “good status” of waterbodies can be achieved only by encouraging the application of natural renewable‐energy‐driven ecological engineering. Ecotechnological methods in wastewater treatment (e.g. constructed wetlands) can remove more than 90 per cent of total N and P, and organic load. These methods also save up to 80 per cent of the cost and energy compared with central technical systems. Because ecomorphology in around 80 per cent of German streams and rivers is disturbed to a high degree, increased efforts for renaturalization are necessary. Successful control concerning first initiated measures shows that improvement of stream morphology has a remarkable positive influence on water ecology.