About us

The Intergroup on Water has been created in 2009 under the initiative of Dr Richard Seeber.

Water is the basis of life and essential to the economy. The interaction of the people with this valuable resource should be sustainably managed on the political level in order not to deprive future generations of their rights to water.

In addition to the need for water for our immediate personal use, as well as food production and industrial production are dependent on the availability of water, such as transport, refrigeration or as raw material in the beverage industry. On average 30% of the abstracted freshwater in Europe is used for agricultural irrigation.

Water is also an essential factor for the ecosystem as a whole and therefore has a major impact on climate, vegetation and biodiversity. 

As water affects many legislative projects and policies, the Intergroup would deal mainly with the following topics:

• Adaptation to climate change:
  • Exchange of best practice in civil protection
  • Role of the Community Water extreme
  • Water Scarcity and Drought: Water efficiency, economic development solutions for prolonged dry spells
• Water and education of the population:
  • Increase awareness of water-related problems and the functioning of the water cycle
  • Include the water issue in all policy areas
• Water and Energy
  • Development of hydropower
  • Tidal power plants
• Exchange of experience in implementing the Water Framework Directive
• Sustainability and availability of infrastructure
• Water and Research
  • Development of databases of water-related data
  • Progress in new technologies, for example in irrigation technology
• Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Improve sanitary conditions

• Implementation of the Urban Waste Water Directive
• Water and Public Health
• Water and Biodiversity