Raising the level of water

With demand for water outstripping supply (see Spore 74 and the Cordoba seminar report on the news pages), there is an urgent need for better management of this essential resource for agriculture, drinking water and industry. Now new guidelines have been issued on the design and implementation of water projects in developing countries by the European Commission. Towards sustainable water resources management describes the Commission s strategic approach which embraces all sorts of principles in water use projects: institutional, managerial, social, economic and environmental, as well as communications and the involvement of all stakeholders. But its special contribution is in explaining how to apply the strategy in practice, covering such aids as stakeholder and gender analysis, water law, and willingness-to-pay surveys. As ponderous as it is painstaking, this is a useful guide to treating water with the respect it deserves. Towards sustainable water resources management European Commission, 1998, 350 pp. ISBN 92 828 4456 0 Free of charge DG Development, Rue de la Loi 200, B1049 Brussels Fax: + 32 2 299 25 25 Email: info@cec.eu.intTowards sustainable water resources management European Commission, 1998, 350 pp. ISBN 92 828 4456 0 Free of charge DG Development, Rue de la Loi 200, B1049 Brussels Fax: + 32 2 299 25 25 Email: info@cec.eu.in