The Water Framework Directive has been the catalyst for a considerable amount of data collection, analysis and research covering a wide range of physical and biological characteristics and involving a wide range of scientific, social and management related disciplines. This paper starts with a short description of the discipline of hydrology and then identifies the main hydrological aspects of work for the WFD and notes their ecological significance. Some idea is given of the range of organisations and disciplines involved in the work and of the links between them. Of particular significance is the degree of cooperation between River Basin Districts in setting up working groups for special studies, avoiding overlaps in research.
