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The River Rhine originates in the Swiss Alps and flows through the Rhine delta (main branches are Waal, Nederrijn and Ijssel) into the North Sea in the Netherlands. Its total length is 1232.7 km (CHR 2015), with approximately 870 km in Germany. The Rheinstrom chainage used for shipping and navigation starts at the Rhine bridge in Konstanz (km 0.0) and ends at Hoek van Holland (km 1032.8). Six German federal states (Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Rhineland-Platinate, Saarland, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria) are completely or partially located in the Rhine basin.
The entire catchment area of the Rhine amounts to around 200000 sq. km; (Germany 53 %, Switzerland 14 %, Netherlands 17 %, France 12 %). Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Liechtenstein and Italy have smaller areas within the Rhine catchment, too. The main tributaries of the Rhine are the Aare, the Neckar, the Main and the Moselle. Other important tributaries are Ill, Nahe, Lahn, Sieg, Ruhr and Lippe. [1]

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

• ICPR - International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine
• ICPMS - International Commissions for the Protection of the Moselle and Saar
• IGKB - International Commission for water protection of Lake Constance
• CHR - International Commission for the Hydrology of the Rhine basin
• FGG Rhein - River basin community Rhine

• AWBR - Association of Waterworks Lake Constance-Rhine
• ARW - Association of Rhine-Waterworks e.V.
• IAWR - International Association of Waterworks in the Rhine Basin
• agw - Association of water boards in North Rhine-Westphalia