Abstract
The governance and management of water resources has long been almost exclusively restricted to elected policy makers and public officials. In the last four decades this hierarchical approach to governing water has increasingly become subject to criticism. Academics from various disciplines as well as industry and civil society representatives suggest that water governance and management might be improved considerably by giving non-state actors a voice in policy design, implementation and enforcement. Other authors question the legitimacy of representative democracy altogether and put forward notions of collaborative, deliberative or participatory democracy. This chapter provides an overview of public participation in water policy and governance. It offers a conceptual discussion, followed by an analysis of its applications at the international level and in the European Union. The chapter then reviews the claims that have been made in relation to participatory water governance and examines the empirical evidence for its effectiveness.