Results from a country survey sent to the 34 OECD member countries, which elicited 20 usable responses, show wide variations. Groundwater policies are founded on different legal systems, focus is on demand-side and/or supply-side, and direct and indirect approaches to regulatory, economic or collective management are used. Some OECD regions facing relatively high groundwater stress use a comprehensive range of groundwater management instruments (economic, regulatory, direct, indirect, etc.).