Federal / State Working Group on Water

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The Federal / State Working Group on Water (LAWA) was formed in 1956 as an amalgamation of the ministries responsible for water management and water law in the federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany . The aim of the federal / state working group on water is to discuss transnational and joint water management and water law issues, to develop joint solutions and to initiate recommendations for implementation. Current questions in the national, supranational and international area are also taken up, discussed on a broad basis and the results presented to the relevant organizations . The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has also been a permanent member of the LAWA since 2005 .

Structure and tasks

The working group is a working body of the Conference of Environment Ministers (UMK).

Members are the respective department heads of the highest state authorities for water management and water law and representatives of the federal government, who meet at least twice a year - in good time before the respective meetings of the ACK / UMK - for the LAWA general assemblies. The chairmanship of LAWA changes every two years between the federal states.

To achieve its goals, the working group has set up standing committees and topic-specific ad hoc committees that deal with the topics of water law, hydrology , water and marine protection, ecology , flood protection , coastal protection , groundwater , water supply , municipal and industrial wastewater and the handling of water-polluting Process fabrics .

The results from this work are the basis for uniform water management enforcement in the federal states. This leaves enough space to take regional characteristics into account. The Federal / State Working Group on Water inform the public by means of publications continuously and up to date on the results of the committees and ensures their policy documents to all interested parties.

Based on the resolution of the 63rd Conference of Environment Ministers (November 2004) and the 64th UMK (May 2005), the number of permanent LAWA committees was reduced from five to three in 2005. There is no longer any provision for a third level in the form of sub-committees, as was previously the case. There is the option of setting up temporary ad hoc committees whose tasks are clearly defined to deal with special technical topics and questions .

As a result of the restructuring, LAWA has had three standing committees since mid-2005. In spring 2008 the UMK decided to set up the committee for flood protection and hydrology. The following standing committees currently exist:

See also

Web links