ABSTRACT
Environmental policy for the water sector is an area of key public concern, and legislation and implementation are developing, albeit slowly, within Europe. The Fifth Community Action Programme on the Environment, which was adopted in 1993, stressed the need to complement legislation with the use of market-based instruments including environmental charges, civil liability schemes and voluntary agreements. For the management of water resources the targets for 2000 were prevention of over-exploitation of ground and surface water for drinking and industrial purposes, prevention of pollution of groundwater from diffuse sources and better ecological quality of surface and marine water.
