Founded in 1859 as the “Cooperative for the Melioration of the Erft Basin”, it was later known as the “Erft Cooperative”, then the “Erft Association”.

In the year 1958 the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, by an Act of Parliament, mandated the establishment of a new body, the “Greater Erft Association”, to counteract the significant impact of brown coal mining on the water resources of the Erft region. Accordingly, the organization was constituted in 1959 as a “corporation under public law”.

The Erftverband took on its present form in 1969, when the old Erft Association was merged into the new Greater Erft Association.

The field of competence has broadened further over the years, though the intensifier “Greater” was dropped from the name. Today the Erftverband is a modern service provider.
As a grouping of counties, municipalities, commercial and industrial enterprises, water utilities, power stations and mining interests, the Association fulfils its functions under its own independent administration.