Environmental Engineering and Management Journal May 2013, Vol.12, No. 5, 1051-1063 http://omicron.ch.tuiasi.ro/EEMJ/ “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN ROMANIA: ISSUES, EXPECTATIONS AND ACTUAL INVOLVEMENT Carmen Teodosiu 1 , George Barjoveanu 1 , Joanne Vinke-de Kruijf 2 1 “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, 73 Prof.Dr. D. Mangeron Street, 700050 Iasi, Romania 2 University of Twente, Department of Water Engineering and Management & Twente Centre for Studies in Technology and Sustainable Development, The Netherlands, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands Abstract Water and its sustainable use is closely connected to developments in other fields, such as industry, agriculture and services, energy, nature conservation and health. The pressures imposed by the higher water demands, quality of discharges and climate change raise new water challenges which can be overcome only by coordinated efforts of multiple stakeholders through cooperation and participatory processes. This study presents how public participation – within the context of integrated water resources management – currently functions in Romania. Over the past twenty years, this country witnessed major political, social, economical and environmental transformations. These transformations also mark an evolution from a period in which communist structures destroyed any type of participation into a period in which societal organizations are reconstructed and participatory processes are developing. In this context, this contribution elaborates on the expectations of different stakeholders related to public participation in water resources management, as well as on the actual implementation of public participation in practice. Three case studies are presented, each of them analyzing different aspects of participation in water resources management: stakeholders’ expectations, formal participation procedures and active stakeholder involvement. By using the results of the case studies, we present some of the main issues connected to the limited participation in water resources management. We concluded that although there are institutional efforts and a general willingness to improve public participation in the field of water management, actual involvement of relevant stakeholders is still very limited. Key words: EASW® methodology, integrated water resources management, participatory processes, river basin management, stakeholders Received: January 2013; Revised final: May, 2013; Accepted: May, 2013  Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: gb@ch.tuiasi.ro; Phone: + 40 232 237 594 1. Introduction Sustainable water resources management is one of the most important development dimensions of the new millennium, its importance being extensively acknowledged at major global development summits (Teodosiu, 2007). It is widely argued that sustainable management of the worlds’ limited freshwater resources is only possible by considering them in an integrated manner (De Stefano, 2010; Rault and Jeffrey, 2008). For this, the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been introduced and is actively promoted by the Global Water Partnership (GWP). IWRM is defined as “The process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related sources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner, without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems” (GWP, 2000). It is widely supported that the implementation of IWRM requires a participatory approach (Odendaal, 2002). This