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Water and water bodies are vital for people and nature. They provide both important resources and valuable habitats for life. The conservation and use of water systems must hence be reconciled to ensure the best possible path to sustainable development. Pressure on water resources and aquatic ecosystems increases continuously both in Germany and worldwide. Agriculture, industries, the energy and water economy, settlements and traffic, as well as recreation contribute to this development. Climate change, including increases in the frequency and severity of extreme events such as droughts and intense precipitation, exacerbates the situation. Water is becoming scarce for people and ecosystems or is getting out of control during extreme rainfall. Increased damage to infrastructure, water pollution and degraded ecosystems limited in their functionality ensue. Water policy must cope with conflicting goals of water resource use and conservation. The resulting conflicts are serious and complex, and have evident repercussions for practical water management, calling for new approaches to solve the pressing issues. In view of the complex task and rapidly changing framework conditions, a comprehensive understanding of water systems is imperative to implementing viable prevention and adaptation strategies. The topics to consider must range from individual hydrological, ecological and technical processes to system interrelationships and dynamics, and to economic, social and political issues. This breadth is a challenge for water research. Accordingly, the German Water Science Alliance aspires to link fundamental scientific insights across disciplines to practical solutions of water issues with a view to promote evidence-based water policy supporting sustainable water resource and ecosystem management – in Germany, Europe and worldwide. The present framework paper identifies four central thematic challenges along these lines: 1. Hydrological extremes - developing sustainable adaptation options to cope with increasingly ...