Water board

A water board (Dutch: waterschap or hoogheemraadschap, Flanders and Northern France: , France: , German: Wasserverband) is a regional or national organisation that has very different functions from one country to another. The functions range from flood control and water resources management at the regional or local level (the Netherlands, Germany), water charging and financing at the river basin level (France), bulk water supply (South Africa), regulation of pricing and service quality of drinking water supply at the national level (Kenya) or the coordination of water resources policies between various Ministries and agencies at the national level together with the regulation of drinking water supply (the Philippines).

In Germany water boards (Wasserverbände or Wasserwirtschaftsverbände), also sometimes translated as water associations, are organizations set up under public law for different purposes ranging from wastewater treatment, flood protection, groundwater management, bulk water supply, irrigation, drainage, the restoration and protection of ecosystems to water resources monitoring.

Water boards are established on the legal basis of the federal law on water and soil associations (Gesetz über Wasser- und Bodenverbände), complemented by state laws in several German states (Länder) such as in Lower Saxony where water boards are in charge of coastal protection or North Rhine-Westphalia where water boards are based on state laws passed specifically for the purpose of creating these public service and welfare organisations. Membership can be voluntary or mandatory, depending on the purpose of the water board. Members can be individuals, typically landowners in the area covered by a water board, or municipalities. The members of the Wasserverband Westdeutsche Kanäle are for example industrial players and drinking water suppliers, too. There are thousands of water boards in Germany, mostly in Northern Germany and usually consisting of individual members. The first such water boards were created for coastal protection in the 13th century as private associations that subsequently evolved into boards established under public law.

Wasserwirtschaftsverbände in North Rhine-Westphalia are a different type of water boards and may also have members from industry, mining companies, slaughterhouses, hospitals etc., depending on the volume of waste water or impact on the regional water management. The 11 here established water boards (Aggerverband, Bergisch-Rheinischer Wasserverband, Emschergenossenschaft, Lippeverband, Erftverband, Linksniederrheinische Entwässerungsgenossenschaft (LINEG), Niersverband, Ruhrverband, Wahnbachtalsperrenverband, Wasserverband Eifel-Rur, Wupperverband) have their historical starting point in the industrial developments in the 19th century and are always public and non-profit organisations.

...
Wikipedia