Background The objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC represent a major challenge for Member States that have to draw up integrated management plans as well as devise programmes for achieving “good water status” as defined under the directive. To prevent further degradation and improve quality, the programme of measures should: implement appropriate monitoring tools in order to identify diffuse pollution and anticipate negative changes, as well as carry out concrete actions for improving land-use practices. Objectives The conservation of water quality was at the heart of the SEMEAU project. In order to achieve this goal, not only did the project partners intend to raise stakeholders' awareness and initiate a constructive dialogue between them, they also aimed to build a tool for effectively protecting surface water and groundwater located in hilly or mountainous regions. Approximately one-third of Europe's land mass consists of hilly and mountainous regions. The water sourced from these areas tends to be of excellent quality. However, certain land-use practices can have a negative impact on the water resources and their quality. A complete modelling method for bodies of water was to be developed, tested and disseminated. This method would provide end-users with a useful tool to anticipate a variety of threats. Such threats include turbidity, i.e. cloudiness of a fluid caused by the presence of particles, as well as contamination with nitrates, phosphates, hydrocarbons and pesticides. In addition, the SEMEAU partners aimed to model the impact of certain measures and - by analysing the results of said model - assess their efficiency. Results In the framework of SEMEAU, the project partners successfully developed the SEMEAU modelling tool, which, unlike many other models, takes into account the impact of forest cover on the water balance. This innovative tool can be integrated with other tools commonly used in modelling and can thus easily be transferred to other sites. The SEMEAU tool was put to the test on three project sites in France, namely in the commune of Volvic in the Puy-de-Dôme department, the city of Saint-Etienne and the commune of Vals-les-Bains. In this local context, the simulations based on the SEMEAU digital model provided some conclusive results that have already been used to inform water policies and action plans, even though the methodology's full benefits can only be determined in the long term (between 20 and 40 years). As a short-term result, however, the SEMEAU tool is already being used to anticipate degradation threats, to model possibilities for action on land-use and to assess the efficiency of measures taken. An agricultural action plan was developed for Volvic. This action plan suggested four measures, including the implementation of an individual or collective plan for the spreading of livestock effluents and the systematic recording of these effluents, the launch of a training programme on fertilisation, and the provision of new fertilisation equipment. These suggestions were then used by the Chamber of Agriculture of Puy-de-Dôme to define the main actions in the 2014 spreading plan. In addition, the environmental committee for the protection of the Volvic impluvium (CEPIV) will hire a forestry manager, who will help private landowners implement the forest policy, aiding the protection of water resources at the same time as increasing economic value and revenue for landowners. As part of the forest scheme adopted by CEPIV, grasslands will be expanded and forest will be cut down. This will increase the pasture area available to farmers and therefore reduce the pressure from pollution. It will also reduce water consumption, which will improve the hydrological water balance, as the SEMEAU model results showed. The productivity of the catchment area will be maintained, guaranteeing both the town of Volvic’s drinking water supply and the production of bottled mineral water. .Demonstrative actions from all three project sites showed practical possibilities for improving the quality and quantity of local water resources through changes in the management of forest and agricultural areas. Hence, all three communities will integrate the model developed by the project in their water policies in order to improve pollution and accident protection as well as the water balance on the watershed scale, i.e. the flow of water in and out of the local water cycle. In Saint-Etienne, the SEMEAU tool helped identify and quantify the source of phosphate emissions, so that actions can now be implemented to improve the quality of the water resources. In Vals-les-Bains, , the tool improved the understanding of the local hydrogeological system, making it possible for the commune to adopt a more appropriate policy for water protection. Thanks to these promising initial results, the project partners expect the number of communities using this specific approach to grow significantly, ideally reaching 80% coverage of the watershed area in the future. The tool could also be applied in other hilly and mountainous regions in Europe such as Germany's Black Forest, the Czech Republic's Bohemian region and others. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).