Global fresh water scarcity and empirical studies on the bad quality of water in Europe made the Community aware of the need to protect this vital resource. Since water has no frontiers, the Member States decided to endeavour a common approach in its protection. It is the aim of this treatise to show the Communitys policy and legislation in water protection, which has been evolving since its origins in the Seventies throughout the last decades. The most ambitious approach which has been undertaken by the Community in this field of law lately, is the Water Framework Directive. Its provisions...