In the late 1970s. the adverse effects of man-made eutrophication became manifest in many countries. which explains. perhaps. why there was such a broad interest when the former Resources and Environment Area of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) organized a workshop on the subject. There was such an enthusiasm among the partici­ pants that two further workshops were quickly organized. one on deep and the other on shallow lake eutrophication problems. The organization of these meetings was extremely stimulating. and the round table discussions among scientists from both West and East remain thought provoking for those who took part. The general feeling emerged that the complexity and multifaceted nature of the problem, even though perhaps not fully recognized at that time. clearly demanded a systems analysis approach. No wonder. then. that the request made by the Hungarian Member Organization of nASA to adopt Lake Balaton as a "real life laboratory" for an nASA case study fell on fertile ground. the more so since it appeared that shallow lake eutrophication had received less attention and was less well understood than that of deep lakes. And so the nASA Lake Balaton Case Study began. with the appointment of Gerrit van Straten as the first leader of the project.