Maßnahmenplan Nachhaltige Wasserwirtschaft - Handlungsschwerpunkte für einen zukunftsorientierten Umgang mit Wasser in Deutschland: Forschungsbericht 297 21 707

The objective of the study focused on developing and describing essential measures for a sustainable, environment-protecting water management in Germany. The following environmental topics relevant for the protection of water resources were examined: emissions of nutrients and hazardous substances, deteriorations of the morphological structure of both inland and coastal waters, conservation of water, and protection of fish resources. The measures were developed with regard to existing environmental targets (as mainly specified in international agreements), current emissions and polluters, and the resulting need for action. More than 70 measures were developed and examined. They are described and characterized in standardized data sheets in the appendix of the report. The following criteria were used: typ of political instrument, main actors, time needed for realization, environmental effects, costs, political prospects, and advantages and disadvantages of measures. In addition, the reduction of nitrogen emissions was used in order to demonstrate how the priority setting and bundling of different measures and the assessment of the combined effects could be operationalized. The reduction of nitrogen emissions has been chosen because of both its high priority in environmental politics and its rather good availability of data compared with other problems