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This report builds on the EEA assessment of 2018 of the status and pressures of European waters  (EEA, 2018)[1]. In its 2018 assessment, the EEA concluded that European waters remained under significant pressures linked to changes in their hydromorphology, pressures from diffuse and point sources of pollution and water abstraction and that limited progress was noted in improving water status from the first to the second planning cycle of the WFD. The pressures on European waters often act at the same time and affect the good functioning of ecosystems, contribute to biodiversity loss and threaten the valuable benefits that water brings to society and the economy. However, no detailed presentation of the main drivers and pressures causing less than good status of EU water bodies was made in the 2018 EEA assessment. The present report takes the 2018 presentation of water status and pressures one step further and aims at giving a European overview of the main drivers and pressures that are at the core of key water management challenges at European level.

[1] EEA, 2018, European waters – assessment of status and pressures 2018.

The key water management challenges identified in this report are a structured presentation of EU-level evidence on the main drivers and pressures that put European water bodies most at risk of achieving the WFD environmental objectives. The presentation of these European key water management challenges aims at improving our understanding of the main sources and sectoral activities behind key pressures and the main associated impacts. In addition, a summary is provided of key measures which are available to tackle these challenges across the majority of European countries and of management issues of EU-wide relevance.

Identifying the pressures and drivers of key water management challenges at European level can help in shaping priorities of the main issues that should be tackled with measures especially in the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) under the WFD (Figure 1). The identification of European key water management challenges can also support later assessments of the upcoming third RBMPs, especially in terms of whether efforts and resources in the third cycle are being directed to addressing the most challenging issues.

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