The IAWR

The IAWR International Association of Waterworks in the Rhine Basin represents as an umbrella organization of its members, the

• AWBR – Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wasserwerke Bodensee-Rhein (Association of Waterworks – Lake Constance/Rhine),
• ARW - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rhein-Wasserwerke e. V., (Association of Rhine Waterworks) and
• RIWA - Vereniging van Rivierwaterbedrijven (Dutch River Waterworks Association)

about 120 waterworks from the six riparian states Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

In the international Rhine basin, 61 million people are depending on clean drinking water.

The goal of the IAWR is the sustainable protection of drinking water quality as an essential basis for public health. This requires an effective implementation of the precautionary principle. Accordingly, in the Rhine basin, the Rhine with its tributaries including the lakes and groundwater bodies are to be protected in such a way that the water quality of the drinking water resources allows public drinking water supply using nature-based treatment processes only.

The IAWR pursues exclusively non-profit and scientific goals. The technical basis includes, in particular, the measurement programs of the member associations, which provide a decades-long data basis for making statements about water quality.