The overall objective of the BMW project is to establish a set of socio-economic, bio-geo-chemical and systems analytical criteria to assess the appropriateness 
of integrated models for the use in the implementation of the WFD. The project aims at testing and demonstrating the use of the models fulfilling the defined 
a priori criteria, applied to selected intensively studied river basins diffenng in ecotype, land-use, pollution activites and pollution problems, to answer 
questions relevant for the implementation of the WFD. The active participation of the end-users will ensure that the criteria and the models are operational 
and functional at the management level. The project will point out development needs of the models, and develop and demonstrate a methodology that can be used 
for the planning and management of surface waters, groundwater and estuaries.    
A scheme for selecting and benchmarking existing model systems will be devised and demonstrated to specifically meet the objectives of i) describing the 
current water pollution status at the river basin scale, and ii) providing a tool for evaluation of management options. These model systems may integrate models 
of individual catchment domains which may be defined geographically for land surfaces, rivers, groundwater and estuaries, or by the model function, e.g. 
for diffuse pollution and socio-economic values. The main products of the project will be inventories, criteria and guidelines for sub-models and integrated 
systems that can be used to assess the pollution status of water systems and to assess the required control actions to reduce the loads, including the evaluation 
of best management practices and best available techniques. Links between links of the selected pairs of domain models will be developed and tested. The integration 
of a chain of domain models will be tested in river basins showing variable natural characteristics and human impact in north-south transect. By doing this 
we also test and increase the transferability of the models and systems. By performing the inventory of the existing models and establishing the criteria for 
models (including sensitivity and uncertainty analyses and linkages) and assessment systems we will support the model developers to improve their systems 
to be used for WFD purposes. Producing the guidelines to use such models and assessment systems will assist the end-users to select best available models and 
systems, and to use them appropriately and consistently for the implementation of the WFD. The dissernination of information on integrated models will further 
be enhanced by developing an interactive internet-based Toolbox