Drinking water policies and research are intimately linked. It is thanks to the scientific progress made over the last 25 years in identifying and controlling toxic products in drinking water that regulations have developed in such a way that the protection of public health from waterborne diseases has drastically improved. The integration of research outputs into the policy-making progress requires close cooperation among the scientific and policy communities, which is not always straightforward. Exchanges among scientific and policy-making communities are certainly representing key elements...

• Deals with new EC legislation - the Water Framework Directive; the main driver within Europe for groundwater monitoring which addresses integrated water resource management across 27 different countries
• Provides comprehensive approach and guidance on the theoretical and practical aspects for implementing the directive
• Edited by EC representatives involved in the setting up of the framework, along with colleagues in various water institutions who have the task of implementing the legislation
• Part of the Water Quality Measurement Series