Measures and costs of integrated river basin management--the Wupper example.

The implementation of the European Water Framework Directive entails additional costs in the areas of management, monitoring and water quality. As a first estimate, an attempt is made to assess the effects of implementation on the development of costs in a sub-basin, taking the Wupperverband as an example. The work and measures required are presented and the costs are assessed. On this basis, a cost estimate for the maximum time required for the implementation of the WFD is made. This takes into account all the relevant tasks in the area of the association with respect to rivers.