The problem that all partners in this project face is twofold: due to past human activity water quality and environmental quality of selected areas within the partnership decreased significantly; in addition all partners wish to be able to deal with anticipated changes in the climate which poses the partnership with the challenge to deal with future changes in water quantity (the effect can differ, such as increased rainfall, increased water levels in rivers and the entire water system or lack of water and drought). The solution is found identifying existing good practices within the partnership and from there jointly developing integrated master plans focused on the development of NEW lakes and wetland areas which both significantly increase water quality in the water system (increased capacity for clearing water in the system due to enlarged water surface and nature in the area) and make the water system more flexible in terms of quantity (increased retention capacity to storeexcess water and opportunity to tap from water in case of future shortage).This is done in an integrated approach with involvement of relevant stakeholders in order to promote support and real implementation. This approach will also have other positive environmental effects such as increasing biodiversity in the area and making the (wider) areas more attractive for working and living. All good practices in this field will be identified and all competences within the partnership will be put together in a knowledge database so that the partnership will be able to consult each other during the project on specific issues. The master plans for the area (in which issues of water management play a dominating role) will be jointly developed in two subgroups that will co-operate in 7 international workshop sessions. In between workshops the partners continue to co-operate and feedback on each others subproducts and bilateral consultations on specific issues will take place.During this process, new good practices in lake and wetland creation will be developed. The implementation of the master plans beyond the project lifetime will be facilitated via the development of action and funding plans. Funding opportunities for this implementation will be sought, including where possible through mainstream Structural Funds programmes. At the end of the project, relevant regional policies within the partnership will be evaluated in order to promote future lake and wetland development. This will result in improved and more effective regional policies within the partnership. All results will be disseminated. For this purpose, three international dissemination events will be organised. At the end of the project, a good practice report with all project results, policy recommendations and a toolkit for lake and wetland development will be produced and disseminated to the benefit of all interested parties in Europe. Achievements: The Sustainable InteGral Management Approach (SIGMA) has now been running for two and a half years and is lining up for its final phase. All ten partners have developed their masterplans for an integrated approach to wetlands or lake areas. The masterplans are a results of two years of intensive exchange of information in the partnership. There is very good cooperation in the group and experts are helping each other to overcome regional problems. Different instruments have been used to help the partners define the core qualities of the region and stimulate bilateral exchange of experts and sharing of good practices for their work. Special items like unique selling points were identified and transferred in the partnership. A summary of all ten masterplans is ready and will be disseminated in a special newsletter in the next period. For the next implementation phase a template for Action & Funding Plans has been prepared. This will help the partners write their Action & Funding plans, so partners can work more effectively on their regional planning using an integral approach with all stakeholders in the region, integrating environmental and political issues, and encouraging the adoption of good practices. Project activities are helping to raise awareness of the link between the regions and the preparation of the plans. For regional and EU funding special expertise will help the partnership to find the best match. As a first step information will be collected on all EU and other transnational funding opportunities available to S4W partners. This will be coordinated and the transfer of existing and developed good practices to mainstream Structural Funds will be achieved via action and funding plans focused on implementation of the master plans. The latest news can be found on the website see www.sigmaforwater.org