General Information

Subject of Research
Through the course of its development, Water Management Law has undergone a significant transformation. Since its original assignment to Public Property Law, the matter is considered more seriously as an integral part of Environmental Law. This is largely due to the initiation of a modern approach to environmental legislation in the 1970’s, primarily from a Public Law perspective. The current discussions about the integration of Water Law into a legally binding environmental text accentuate these developments with particular clarity. Previously the European Community (EC) controlled the legal protection of bodies of water with prompt legislative enactment into German Water Management Law.  Yet it was not until the 1990s that the Europeanization of Water Law was considered professionally as an independent dimension.  The enactment of the EC Water Framework Directive  in the year 2000 enabled a generally applicable and communally permissible set of rules for Water Management Law. This was not only a profound breakthrough in the sense of a conclusive consolidation in an area of environmental regulation in Europe, but also reinforced reform in Water Management Law.   Categorised as the ‘modernisation of the water sector’, the area of Water Management Law continues to expand as a topic of legal research, and has become a somewhat essential division. The opening of the water market leads to an innovative questioning technique, for example in areas of European Economy Law, Infrastructure Law, Public Competition and Anti-Trust Law, the Public Award of Contract, or Benefit Law. In light of this, the observation and evaluation of international legal influences is increasingly essential, for example, the handling of the service supply market under the World Trade Organisation. It is traditionally important to require the consideration of interdisciplinary concerns throughout the area of Water Management Law. Consequently, the title of Water Management Law raises a wide variety of discussion within the legal profession. Yet this currently is a self-contained legal discipline, which suggested the establishment of a specialised legal research institute. 

Method of Operation
The institute has the task of conducting legal research to a scientific level, in every required dimension of the area described as modern Water Management Law. Specific research topics develop through in-depth professional discussions with European establishments, state authorities, local authorities and organisations such as communal and private enterprises. All of which deal with Water Management Law.  In order to ensure constructive discussions with achievable outcomes, the institute regularly enforces that the Water Management Law discussion groups have a limited number of participants. Due to the geographical location of Trier, these meetings take place in various parts of Germany. The discussion groups are recorded in the ‘Water Law Journal’. Alongside this, exclusive events and major conferences take place, which are devoted to a cross-section of fundamental issues. Shortly following its initial formation, the institute established itself, and its openness towards legal issues, with the Water Management Law day, which took place in Trier in 2007. Under the general representation of European Water Management Law, the institute organised the first ever two-day international conference, in cooperation with the European Law Academy Trier. This took place in Brussels in spring 2008 and initiated a European-wide exchange of current questions on Water Management Law. In addition to this, the institute created a publishable guide to relevant dissertations on Water Management Law research. Furthermore, the directing manager of the institute is the editor of the ‘Water Law Journal’ (ZfW) and co-editor of the ‘Handbook of German Water Law’ (HDW) and the ‘Beck’sche Online Commentary on Environmental Law’ (BeckOK).  
 
History
The concept of a legal commitment to an institution for German and European Water Management Law first arose following a Water Law conference in spring 2005 on the North Sea island of Heligoland. Such an institute would provide regional and technical boundaries for specialised, continuous and recorded examinations of Water Law. As part of this provision, they designed a University research institute. Their task was to focus on the various dimensions concerned within the rapid transformations of circulating legal matters. It was not long before they discovered a sphere of interesting and pressing issues. In May 2006 in Berlin, a diverse yet united support association formed according to Civil Law, to assist the work of the institute. The association then qualified to register as a society, as it serves a public duty.  In summer 2006, the law faculty at the University of Trier decided to establish the institute as a scientific facility under paragraph 90 of the Rheinland-Pfalz University and College Act. With this new organisational structure came the freedom from state interference of University and environmental politics. It also warranted the enforcement of certain interests. The members of the support association currently stand as a discussion group, which offers an extensive forum for any relevant legal discussion. In addition to this, access to a network dealing with membership of the support association has emerged, with corresponding active facilities and
personnel. The institute truly commenced its work with the first Water Economy Law discussion group in Trier in August 2006.
 
Translation: Danielle Hughes.