Several specific tasks organized in work packages with specific objectives can be identified:

The objective of the work package "Establishing a communication forum / Harmoni-CA Management" is to build an infrastructure for exchanging knowledge, to guide the process to harmonisation, and to report on the outcome. This Work package also includes organisation of conferences and workshops. Emphasis is placed on the participation of all stakeholders. Periodic reports on the outcomes from the communication processes will be provided.

The objective of the work package "Toolbox" is to provide easy and guided access to approved (benchmarked) ICT-tools necessary for the development of River Basin Management Plans. This leads to an open, flexible, "scientific sound" toolbox for present and future integrated, harmonised ICT-tools. Easy access is not limited to technical access to resources, but also includes training material, demo case studies, protocols dealing with conditions for utilisation, rights of ownership, intellectual property rights and finance. Access to tools will be provided through a web-site that contains (references to) ICT-tools, benchmarking reports, and a tools selection tool, which guides the user to the tools based on the issue at hand, the characteristics of the river basin, the data availability etc.

The "General Methodology and Guidance Documents" activity delivers science based guidance documents for the harmonised application of this methodology and available ICT-tools, at all relevant spatial scales in Europe (and beyond). The Work Package will serve the development of a harmonised methodology for integrated river basin water management along the lines of the WFD under different circumstances across Europe with the involvement of stakeholders and other interest groups, to achieve further harmonisation of the hitherto fragmented approaches.

The work package "Joint use of monitoring and modelling" aims at to help bridging the gap between the monitoring community and the modelling community. Emphasis is put on the need for data (quality as well as quantity) for modelling in relation to the WFD and its availability and accessibility. Data uncertainty and the applicability of data assimilation techniques will be assessed. A better use of standard datasets from river basins for WFD related research studies will be facilitated. Finally, guidelines for good practise in combining monitoring and modelling will be prepared.

"Integrated Assessment and the science-policy interface" aims to develop and strengthen the science-policy interface across sectors and spatial boundaries to establish a dialogue on the requirements for modelling tools and participatory approaches to implement the WFD.

The Work Package will give an account of the state of the art in the representation of the human dimension in catchment modelling and river basin management planning as well as in combining stakeholder and public participation and modelling/formal approaches in river basin management. Links with established expertise in the field of Integrated Assessment will be provided in order to support the establishment of a peer review research community in the field of integrated water resources management.

"Co-ordination ongoing & future RTD-activities" increases the output and benefit of ongoing research, speeds-up the (re-) use of developed products, and aims to increase the synergies and complementariness of projects. This will be achieved by applying a variety of activities leading to a closer co-ordinating and synchronising of ongoing and planned research. The Work Package will consider ongoing and future projects dealing with issues relevant to the implementation of the WFD.