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Water Quality & Water Management
Our Services
Water experts of Umweltbundesamt provide consultancy services with more than 30 years of experience. We advise and support international institutions, national governments, regional and local authorities and companies. Our clients and partners include scientific and political institutions in Austria, the EU and beyond.
Through our national and international network and cooperation in European and international working groups we are in touch with the latest regulatory, scientific and political developments.
Selected clients
European Commission (EC), EUROSTAT, European Environment Agency (EEA), Commission for the Protection of the River Danube (ICPDR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank, Austrian Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism and other national authorities.
European Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+)
Up to 2020, management plans for river basins and transboundary rivers will be implemented in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine under the leadership of a European project consortium headed by the Environment Agency Austria. The project is based on the principles of the European Water Framework Directive.
Project funded by: European Union, Austrian Development Agency, Austrian Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism and the French Office International de l’Eau.
Project Duration: 2016-2020.
Waste Water Management in the Danube Region
Challenges and Opportunities of EU accession
An expert team of Umweltbundesamt and International Office for Water (IOW) conducted in 2017 a study to assess the results of the implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD, 91/271/EEC) in the Danube Region, taking into account environmental, economic, sustainability and affordability aspects. The specific geographic focus of the study is on the 8 EU Member States of DRB in central, east, and southeast Europe, namely: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Most of these countries are still in the process of implementing the UWWTD. The study was commissioned by the World Bank and the International Association of Water Supply Companies through their Danube Water Program (DWP).
Water Information System Austria (WISA)
The Water Information System Austria (WISA) is the central platform for data and information on national water management in Austria. It provides public access to data, maps and documents on the implementation of EU Water Directives such as the Water Framework Directive, the Floods, the Groundwater or the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.
Client: Austrian Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism.
Project duration 2003 - ongoing.
Rainman Heavy Rain Integrated Risk Management
The aim of RAINMAN is to develop and test innovative methods and tools to improve the management capacities of public authorities in Central Europe and to support local and regional administrations by providing guidance and best practice examples. 10 partners from 6 countries are jointly developing innovative methods and new tools for managing and mitigating heavy rain risks.
Project funded by: EU/ Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE and Austrian Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism.
Project duration 2017-2020.
Implementation of the Directive on Urban Waste Water Treatment (UWWTD) - support to the EC
The objectives of the project were to assess information provided to the European Commission by Member States, to support the European Commission during infringement procedures, to conduct in-depth analyses on the basis of surveys and investigations in specific countries, to support the reporting process laid out in the Directive and to provide support for the Regulatory Committee, working groups and bilateral workshops.
Client: European Commission/DG Environment
Project duration: 2003-2017.
Integrated water management for EU neighbouring countries
This project in the southern Mediterranean has the aim to establish sustainable water management strategies and practices and to develop and strengthen administrative capacities in Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
Project duration: 2016-2018.
Water Framework Directive - intercalibration Bulgaria
The main objective of this project was to support Bulgaria in the intercalibration of methods for the analysis of biological quality elements as required by the EU Water Framework Directive.
Project duration: 2012-2016.
NanoDESTINARA
Behaviour of selected nanoparticles on the biocoenosis of wastewater treatment plants
In order to decrease the knowledge gap on the behavior of nanoparticles in wastewater treatment the project aimed to determine the impact of the investigated nanoparticles (TiO2, Ag, CeO2, fullerenes) on the performance of municipal wastewater treatment plants.
Project duration: 2013-2014.
Support to the Environment Sector in Kosovo
The objective of this Twinning Project was to strengthen the administrative capacities in Kosovo regarding legal, institutional and technical aspects of environmental monitoring with a special focus on air and water.
Project duration: 2010-2012.
HESTIA – Harmonisation and Evaluation of Sampling Techniques in the Aquatic Environment
The objective this project was to compare different water monitoring methods for selected pollutants (PAH, selected heavy metals) to give a technical recommendation on how to perform a trend monitoring in the aquatic environment.
Project duration: 2010-2012.
WFDGW - The EU Water Framework Directive
Statistical aspects of the identification of groundwater pollution trends, and aggregation of monitoring results.
The objective of this project was to support the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) by developing and proposing algorithms for the aggregation of groundwater quality data at the groundwater body level for trend assessment and for trend reversal assessment.
Project Duration: 1999-2001