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The River Ems flows through the North German Plain at first in a northwesterly direction - draining the Teutoburg Forest to the west - and then to the north. After 371 river km it flows into the North Sea at Emden. The international river basin district of the Ems encompasses the Ems-Dollart estuary, the Dutch Nedereems area and the German Ems area - totaling about 18000 sq. km. Around 84 % of the total area is located in Germany (61 % in Lower Saxony and 23 % in North Rhine-Westphalia), 13 % in the Netherlands and 3 % in the international area of the Ems-Dollart-Estuary. The main tributaries of the Ems are the Hase and the Leda.[1]
Parts of the impounded Middle Ems are sections of the Dortmund-Ems Canal (DEK). With its confluence close to Meppen, the previous chainage of the Ems as a federal waterway (km 0 at the weir Schöneflieth, Greven) is replaced by the chainage of the DEK (Ems km 124.15 changes to Ems km 166.59 DEK). The Herbrum lock (Ems-km 212.6 DEK) represents the tidal limit. From km 225.82 DEK near Papenburg the Lower Ems starts at kilometer 0.00, then merges into the Outer Ems (maritime waterway) at km 67.76 and reaches the North Sea island of Borkum at km 92.0.

The following international and national commissions / working groups advocate for water protection and flood risk management on the Ems and its tributaries:

• RBD Ems - International River Basin District Ems - Eems (at the same time administrative office of the RBC Ems)
• German - Dutch Commission on Border Rivers