2 Policy context of water resources management in Eastern Partnership countries

Key messages

Bilateral cooperation is already taking place for integrated water resources management in the transboundary river basins, such as the Dniester Treaty between Moldova and Ukraine, and the bilateral agreement between Belarus and Ukraine.

All EaP countries have governmental organisations to manage water resources. However, frequent reorganisation among the respective agencies and ministries and staff turnover create risks as regards developing expert knowledge and the operational capacity of water institutions.

EaP countries are home to around 70 million people and are still in the transition period towards market economies. Population dynamics show mixed trends, declining in some countries, such as Armenia, while sharply increasing in, for example, Azerbaijan. Ukraine has the largest population at 42 million, followed by Azerbaijan with 10 million. Belarus has a population of 9.46 million, Georgia 3.7 million, Moldova 3.5 million and Armenia 3 million.

The EaP countries are located on terrain where freshwater ecosystems are very diverse, with floodplains, rivers and lakes (Map 2.1). Surface and groundwater resources are strategic natural resources for supplying water to 70 million people and key to maintaining the countries' major economic sectors, such as agriculture, energy and manufacturing industries.

However, in some countries, renewable water resources are either overexploited by economic sectors (e.g. in Armenia and Azerbaijan) or polluted by highlevel nitrate and phosphorus (P) emissions (excluding Belarus), mainly from agriculture and the direct discharge of wastewater. One third of the population at the regional level do not have access to a public water supply. In some countries, almost half of the population rely on self-supply. In addition, direct discharge or insufficiently treated wastewater exacerbates the pollution of surface and groundwater resources. These problems, either partly or entirely, are common in all EaP countries and have already been addressed in several publications (EEA, 2011; OECD and UNECE, 2014; UNECE, 2007c; UNENGO, 2015). In 2014, by signing agreements with the EU and its Member States, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine started the gradual adjustment of their national legislation to European environmental standards and principles, while some other countries, for example, Belarus, have voluntarily aimed to harmonise their water legislation with the EU water acquis.

Many of the existing national water laws are adopting principles similar to the EU water acquis, particularly the EU Water Framework Directive and its daughter Directives. For example, Water Law no. 272/2011 in Moldova has partly harmonised its water legislation with the EU water acquis (Republic of Moldova, 2011) on the protection of water against nitrate pollution from agricultural sources, bathing waters, environmental quality standards in the field of water policy, and on urban wastewater treatment. In Ukraine, the process of implementing European water policy started with the new legislation, namely, the Water Code of Ukraine (amended on 4 October 2016). The Code sets the basis for implementation of extended water-quality monitoring programmes, for example to support the assessment of the ecological status of surface-water bodies. Georgia adopted new water legislation in 1997, and is currently reforming its national environmental legislation and water protection sector to adapt to the EU water acquis (Vystavna et al., 2018). Meanwhile, some countries are renewing their water legislation and water strategy, with EU support, such as Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan also participate in the European Nieghbourhood Policy. Political cooperation between the EU and Armenia is based on the