Adaptation of EU Water Framework Directive Principles for Integrated Management of Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River Basin

The European Union (EU)'s Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to establish river basin management rules which are based on the best available scientific knowledge and technologies. These principles have been applied successfully in EU and non-EU countries through international river basin organisations involving several countries. However, it is not directly applicable to developing countries due to their poor economic situations. This means that adaptations are needed to EU WFD to ensure that rational water allocation is efficiently undertaken in the most economical and technically feasible way, sharing water resources of the river basins in these countries. In this study the EU WFD was adapted to develop a framework towards implementing the integrated water resources management of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river basin in the Indian subcontinent. This integrated trans-boundary water management approach ensures equal distribution and sustainable water resources in the region where conflicts exist between the co-basin countries due to the rapid population growth, increasing water demands and other human activities