On the state of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the Danube River Basin, a Roof Report 2004 was developed by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube and delivered to the European Commission in addition to the national reports. Ecologic Institute developed the chapter on Heavily Modified and Artificial Water Bodies.

For preparatory discussions, an international workshop took place from 9 to 10 February 2004 in Bucharest, Romania. The workshop assisted the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube (ICPDR) and its member countries in carrying out the identification and designation of heavily modified water bodies in the Danube River Basin according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD). During the workshop, the further procedure on how to develop the chapter on heavily modified and artificial water bodies was also discussed.

To collect the relevant information, two templates were developed and agreed with the River Basin Management Expert Group (RBM EG) of the ICPDR. Based on the templates returned by the Danube countries, the chapter was written, picturing large HMWB and AWB of basin wide importance within the Danube River Basin.