On the European continent, nations already geographically unified are becoming even more closely bound every year in other ways: administratively, politically, economically. A common physical geography means common problems in natural resources and environmental management that in turn require solutions using a unified approach. Nowhere is this reality more clearly defined than with the issue of European water management.

The premier technology to engage this harmonisation on the continent is geographic information systems (GIS). GIS for Water Management in Europe recounts the myriad, imaginative ways that European organisations, agencies and governments are using GIS technology to bring unity to a diverse group of problems. Drinking-water distribution, flood control and pollution mitigation constitute only a few of the challenges facing Europeans that are being solved with the visualisation and data management tools of GIS technology. Much like a common currency, GIS is clearing the path for a more integrated, more efficient and more prosperous Europe.