The optimisation of water resources management requires appropriate economic instruments with respect to quality and quantity. The EU-approved regulations are to a large extent political and neglectful of the principles of optimisation. With regard to the numerous types of water utility, its quality and quantity management rules call for a rather complex apparatus, which fails to find acceptance among the law-making body in the field of natural resources and environmental services. This paper aims to provide a thorough analysis of EU water policies using standard tools of environmental economics. The analysis is based on the Polish experience of implementing some of the key EU regulations concerning water resources. The paper shows the inefficiency of the prescriptive approach as well as of its unsuccessful corrections.

The optimisation of water resources management requires appropriate economic instruments with respect to quality and quantity. The EU-approved regulations are to a large extent political and neglectful of the principles of optimisation. With regard to the numerous types of water utility, its quality and quantity management rules call for a rather complex apparatus, which fails to find acceptance among the law-making body in the field of natural resources and environmental services. This paper aims to provide a thorough analysis of EU water policies using standard tools of environmental economics. The analysis is based on the Polish experience of implementing some of the key EU regulations concerning water resources. The paper shows the inefficiency of the prescriptive approach as well as of its unsuccessful corrections.