In order to support the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the European Commission proposed to establish a cluster on Integrated Catchment Water Modelling (CATCHMOD). The objective of this cluster is the development of common harmonised modelling tools for the integrated management of water at river basin or sub-basin scales, including the interface to the coastal zone, in order to achieve a selected number of 'European benchmark models' for the various integrated water management requirements at the European scale.

This requires a close cooperation and synergy between different ongoing EC projects funded under Key Action 1.1.1 that address comparable and complementary issues and research questions. HarmonIT is part of the cluster. The other projects in the cluster are:

• The Tisza River Project - Real-life scale integrated catchment models for supporting water- and environmental management decisions - TISZA RIVER PROJECT
• Towards Harmonised Procedures for Quantification of Catchment Scale Nutrient Losses from European Catchments - EUROHARP
• Benchmark Models for the Water Framework Directive - BMW
• Harmonising Quality Assurance in model based catchment and river basin management - HARMONIQUA

Additional projects could also be considered by the European Commission at a later stage.

The primary aim of the cluster is to enhance the complimentarity and synergy between the above projects, to avoid unnecessary overlaps in project activities and to help the co-ordination and dissemination of research results. The secondary aim is to provide support to EU policy in the area of developing strategies to facilitate the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the field of basin management plans.

Actions in support of the cluster are detailed below.

1. A steering committee, composed of the five project co-ordinators, will manage and oversee the implementation of the common tasks. The chair of the committee will be agreed at its first meeting and will rotate on an annual basis. The Commission will be invited to attend meetings of the committee. The committee will provide a report to the Commission on progress on the common tasks every 12 months. The first meeting of this steering committee will take place after 6 months of the starting date of the latest signed contract.
3. A web site to support the clustering activity will be established. This will hold information about the projects and provide updates on research progress, dissemination events etc.
4. Where there are clear overlaps between the projects' workpackages in terms of methodology or research objectives, more involved forms of collaboration will be explored. This is particularly relevant to the work being undertaken on various model domains (e.g. diffuse pollution, ecology, socio-economic issues, etc.) software tools for linking models, proof of concept, database design and harmonisation of terminology, evaluation of models performance, common sites for model and tools evaluation and testing.
5. Each of the above projects will extend an open invitation to the members of the other consortia to attend their project meetings and they will try where appropriate to arrange common meeting to discuss complementary issues.
6. Where appropriate the above projects will work to identify and exploit common dissemination and exploitation opportunities (e.g. publications).

The terms of reference of the steering committee, including a description of how the common tasks will be implemented, will be finalised and delivered to the Commission in draft form, after the first meeting of the steering committee. The final version will take account of any comments of the Commission.

Each project commits to contribute at least 1% of their respective EC contribution towards the common tasks of the cluster. Opportunities for additional funding to support further collaborative activities will be explored.