  By a variational approach in the Lagrangian formalism, we derive the
nonlinear integrable two-component Camassa-Holm system (1). We show that the
two-component Camassa-Holm system (1) with the plus sign arises as an
approximation to the Euler equations of hydrodynamics for propagation of
irrotational shallow water waves over a flat bed. The Lagrangian used in the
variational derivation is not a metric.
