case of germany where the states (laender) manage water resources, are in the process of setting up co-ordinating mechanisms for each river basin. other elements of the directive, such as the protection of groundwater and cost recovery rules, may be more difficult to implement, especially in southern member countries that have extensive irrigated agriculture. in march 2007 the eu commission published its first progress report on the implementation of the eu framework directive. the report notes mixed results. almost all member countries have transposed the directive into national law, but the report notes that "the legal transposition of the directive in national law is poor and in many cases inadequate". indeed, the report finds that only in three countries the national law (austria, malta and portugal) is in conformity with the directive. furthermore, there have been significant delays in the analysis of the characteristics of each river basin. since the establishment of this knowledge base is a precondition for basin plans, this delay jeopardises progress of the implementation of the entire directive. water supply and sanitation access average connection rates to sanitation systems between 80%–90% are reported for northern, southern and central europe. eastern europe still copes with much lower rates of 40%–65% of the population connected to primary wastewater treatment at least. europe in general is improving: over the last decade more households accessed public treatment plants or even upgraded their treatment system (e.g. from secondary to tertiary treatment). service quality as access is dependent on each member state so is service quality. it ranges from very good service quality in northern and southern states of the european union for example in spain or germany to insufficient or poor services especially in eastern european states. the history of wss within the member states and different states in development can partly explain the heterogeneous state of the supply and treatment systems. history of wss sector the supply of water and its disposal has been managed in europe for many centuries. centralised water supply and sanitation started with the romans who were responsible for the construction of aqueducts and systems to collect and distribute water. during the middle ages water was distributed through private carriers or/and organised through local communities or cities. the industrial revolution and the construction of modern industrialised conurbations in europe was dependent upon managed water supplies. the united kingdom pioneered urban planning at that time. the time of industrialisation and development of cities (between 1800 and 1900) in terms of wss is called the time of simple regime followed by the regimes of lower complexity between 1900 and 1950, medium (1980–1970), high complexity (1970–1985) and the era finally ended up in an so called attempt of integration from 1985 onwards. the terms reflect the approach of most (western) european countries towards wss at that time. it steadily developed from privately organised co-operations to governmental influenced systems. together with water management in general, it nowadays comes back to private initiatives manifested in public-private co-operations. other tools and instruments the blueprint to safeguard europe's waters the blueprint to safeguard europe's waters is the eu's policy response to the challenges of the implementation of the eu water framework directive. it is basically structured in four parts: the review of actions taken to mitigate water scarcity and droughts, so called fitness-checks identifying overlapping or redundant policy structures and recommend improvement strategies, the assessments of (a) river basin management plans (by member states) and (b) vulnerability of water resources due to climate change. water supply and sanitation technology platform main text:water supply and sanitation technology platform one international nonprofit association (under belgian law) supporting the european union in dealing with the challenges of water related issues is the wsstp. this platform was built up in 2004 with financial support of the european commission and is steadily growing ever since. the association is dealing with water supply and sanitation issues within europe and all over the world. nowadays, it is funded through fees paid by its 127 members from industry, research and education. the aim of the association is to support the development of the water related sector within europe, assist both the eu and developing countries in achieving the millennium development goals, and provide research and development roadmaps and recommendations on water related issues especially involving the european commission. water information system for europe the water information system for europe (wise) is a partnership of the european commission, the directorate-general for the environment (european commission), eurostat, the joint research centre and the european environment agency. since 2007 this web-based service platform provides the public with information about ongoing research projects, policies, data, and reports connected to water in the eu. the target group of this online information system is researchers and professionals dealing with water related issues within the framework of the eu. the platform helps to store and administer data and output handed in by member states and agencies connected to the reporting requirements of the european commission. eap task force the environmental action programme (eap) is a policy adopted by environment ministers in 1993 in a conference in switzerland. an international task force was established later on to support mainly states of countries in the eastern europe, caucasus and central asia. in wss they are supporting the financial strategies of a number of countries to achieve the millennium development goals. furthermore, they are working on indicators and monitoring systems in those countries to collect data of water utilities to check their performance. apart from that, the eap task force is figuring out the potentials of the private sector to participate in the water sector especially in water supply and sanitation in the eecca countries and they consult local partners in financial planning and investment. they are also collaborating with the eu water initiative since 2005. major challenges major challenges of the eu concerning wss are connected with modern pressures to the system. climate change, demographic developments, urbanization, economic progress, social changes influence the water sector in many ways. the european union is said to be very effective concerning water management and policies. however, especially the new member states located in eastern europe are in need of enormous investments to ensure the sustainability of the water infrastructure. the existing and foreseen problems are the lack of investments in the rural and municipal water supply which led to poor services (e.g. water leakages, interruption of service, insufficient water availability during drought, etc.), the limited availability of water resources and its energy consumption which can represent up to 50% of municipalities' electricity bill. technologies are actually available and with a quick return on investment but the sole focus on water quality has diverted the attention for the increasing need of sustainability from the water sector in the context of climate change. water supply limitation counts as major concern. the first and most rational answer should be to tackle the water leakage problem europe is facing as almost 1/4 of treated water is leaked in average in the eu. moreover, research shows that water reuse and recycling are also solutions in the long-term. furthermore, expert's advice say that water supply and waste water treatment systems should be decentralised. another challenge within the water sector in europe is privatisation and lobbyism in the water sector. in france, recent problems emerged regarding the privatising of water supply companies. the european union needs to make extra investments of €90 billion in the water and waste sector to meet its 2030 climate and energy goals. however, wastewater resources can be useful. in the european union, an estimated 60–70% of wastewater's potential value is still untapped (in heat, energy, nutrients, minerals, metals, chemicals). although the complete eradication of micropollutants in water is not presently a legal requirement in the eu, switzerland has previously approved a regulation (in effect since march 2014) to minimize micropollutant loads from wastewater treatment plants serving at least 2 000 people. many member states, including france, germany, and the netherlands, are contemplating adding treatments to the usual primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment procedures to reduce micropollutants in treated wastewater. these further water treatments are referred to as the "fourth step or quaternary therapy" combined. wastewater reuse according to an eu-funded study, "europe and the mediterranean countries are lagging behind" california, japan, and australia "in the extent to which reuse is being taken up." according to the study "the concept (of reuse) is difficult for the regulators and wider public to understand and accept." the second largest waste reclamation program in the world is in spain, where 12% of the nation's waste is treated. by 2023, a new eu agriculture law may raise water reuse by six times, from 1.7 billion m3 to 6.6 billion m3, and cut water stress by 5%. the indirect potable reuse (idp) project in wulpen, belgium, discharges recycled water to an unconfined dune aquifer. initially the recycled water comprised 90% ro permeate and 10% mf permeate (approx. 6,000,000 m3 per year). however, it was observed that some herbicides were present in the recycled water at levels below drinking water standards due to detection of herbicides in the mf permeate. as a result, since may 2004, only the ro permeate after uv disinfection is injected into the aquifer with addition of sodium hydroxide to adjust the ph.