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7 Transboundary River Basins in the European Union and the …
Fig. 7.1 International river basins of the European continent. Source Transboundary Freshwater
Dispute Database [Product of the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database, College of Earth,
Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University. Additional information about the TFDD
can be found at: http://transboundarywaters.science.oregonstate.edu.]
The hydro-geological diversity of the continent results in a very high transboundary exposure in most parts of the EU. Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal
receive 40% of their surface waters from abroad, the Netherlands and Slovakia 80%
while Hungary 95%! In 16 EU member states more than 90% of the territory is
located in an international river basin (Rieu-Clarke 2009).
7.2 The State of Freshwaters in the European Union:
A Snapshot
Thanks to the EU’s extensive monitoring mechanisms the European Commission
and the European Environment Agency (EEA) produce detailed regular analyses on
the state of freshwater resources in the bloc. Below is a brief summary of the main
recent reports, broken down by three parameters: water availability and water use,
water quality and hydro-morphological status.