Being aquaresponsible refers to all actions a municipality must undertake to ensure the good management of its water resources and the adequate provision of water services in order to guarantee the:

• protection and sustainable use of water resources;
• optimisation of service quality;
• most advantageous cost;
• optimization and durability of infrastructures.

Being aquaresponsible is strongly related to sustainable development. An aquaresponsible municipality:

• Protects its drinking water sources.
• Provides adequate treatment of the water and monitors the quality of the distributed water.
• Promotes responsible consumption (saving drinking water); sets up water saving measures; optimizes the management of the distributed water.
• Manages wastewater during wet-weather conditions, including the associated pollution and flooding.
• Provides adequate treatment of wastewater from various sources.
• Provides maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement of infrastructures according to programmes that guarantee the sustainability of services and the use of resources in the long term.
• Adapts the infrastructures to climatic change.
• Provides suitable continuous training for operation and planning staff.
• Optimizes management of human-, equipment- and financial resources dedicated to water.
• Optimizes costs for water services; reasonable invoicing for resource use, and administrative and political accountability with regard to the quality and cost of the water services.
• Prepares, updates, monitors and provides feedback on annual and triennial action plans to ensure the quality of service and sustainability of the infrastructures.
• Informs citizens on existing services and on projects currently under development.
• Monitors the quality of receiving waters.
• Develops access to water courses and creates recreational facilities and activities for citizens and visitors.