51. Considers that its expertise in managing transnational water resources and its existing involvement in bilateral cooperation with a view to integrated national water management plans and multilateral cooperation in the regional Water Governance project and the International Fund for the Aral Sea create an opportunity for the EU to profile itself as a mediator and facilitator in the sharing of water resources between upstream and downstream states (including Northern Afghanistan) and to promote the establishment of a sustainable cooperative order for water governance, grounded in treaty-level international law, a role that no other international actor is willing or able to fulfil despite calls by the ...[+++]countries concerned;

C. whereas new waste-water treatment centres, which are designed to remove the pollutant effluents currently found in the Lower Jordan River, are due to begin operating in late 2011; whereas, if sound and sustainable water-management practices are not developed and fresh water resources are not allocated to the Lower Jordan River to coincide with the operation of these centres, long stretches of the river are likely to run dry by the end of 2011,

The worldwide photovoltaic market is expected to grow at 25-35% in the future [16], and water management is expected to grow 6% annually in the next ten years [17]. The solid waste recycling sector has been growing at 4.5% annually in the period 2000-2004 [18].

The Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes aims at preventing, controlling and reducing the incidence of water-related disease through collaboration on water management and protection of health and the environment through appropriate measures.

Taking account of relevant expertise in water management policies within the EU (such as the establishment and implementation of the Water Framework Directive, a legally binding instrument that promotes in the EU the same principles put forward in this Communication for developing countries), the Commission can make a significant impact in supporting Integrated Water Resources Management at the regional level, including in cases where water-related conflict prevention may be needed.

improvement of economic transparency and the knowledge and information base, taking into account demand for water and the estimation of the costs for water as a resource, water management, services and use including direct and indirect subsidies, water-related tariffs and charges, investment costs, infrastructure maintenance costs, environmental benefits, and the costs of water pollution;