The main purpose in organising this week's (22-24 March) high level water conference was to present our communication on the implementation of the water framework and floods directives, which was adopted earlier this month.
This marked the end of the first implementation cycle of the river basin management plans by EU member states.
The new communication contains recommendations for member states regarding their second river basin management plans and their first flood risk management plans that need to be adopted by the end of this year.
"This week's fourth European water conference in Brussels was a wake-up call. While significant progress has been achieved in water management and floods risk management a lot still needs to be done"
So essentially, this week's fourth European water conference in Brussels was a wake-up call. While significant progress has been achieved in water management and floods risk management a lot still needs to be done as good status is expected for only about half of the EU's surface water bodies.
Actions have to be taken at EU, national and local levels.
The conference clarified what these actions are and provided a signal to all stakeholders that they need to take their share of responsibility.
There were several main commission recommendations presented at the conference including the need for member states to step up their efforts in designing cost-effective measures based on a sound assessment of pressures and impacts on the aquatic ecosystem and on a reliable evaluation of water status.
And in relation to water abstraction and ecological flow - the water needed for nature - member states should review abstraction permits to ensure sustainable use and improve permit enforcement.
"Member states need to better control fertiliser use as well as creating incentives for more water-efficient irrigation"
Adequate water pricing and cost recovery policies also need to be applied across economic sectors and member states - for example, relying on metering. Meanwhile regarding agriculture, in addressing the issue of diffuse pollution, member states need to better control fertiliser use as well as creating incentives for more water-efficient irrigation.
Regarding industry, there should be a systematic consideration of the water framework directive's objectives in the review of discharge permits, while for households, the planning and financing of infrastructure investment such as sewage collection and treatment needs to be accelerated.
Finally, EU funds should be fully exploited to support the achievement of the objective of good water status by 2015.