The time has ended when each contracting authority could undertake any selective development or specialized equipment, withdraw and discharge water at its own choosing, only concerned with its particular and sectorial interests, without taking a wider view of the situation and without consultation.

From now on, these requirements are better apprehended, thanks to Masterplans (SDAGE) and Schemes (SAGE) for Water Development and Management.

C 1 - PRESERVING ENVIRONMENTAL BALANCE

l THE QUALITY OBJECTIVES OF WATERCOURSES

Quality objectives have been defined for the main watercourses.

Their preparation, based on the 1978 order of the Ministry for the Environment, in compliance with the 1964 water law, helps define and orientate the actions necessary for protecting watercourses.

Departmental maps showing quality objectives have been adopted in most departments, on the basis of a wide consultation of local partners.

The most fragile aquatic media such as marshlands, ponds, low alluvial valleys, estuaries etc., which are often rich in sensitive fauna, are particularly protected by the Ministry for the Environment and at present, specific agro-environmental programmes are being set up in accordance with the agricultural profession, and within the context of the European Community regulations.

The " Fishing Law " of 1984 stipulates that contracting authorities must maintain an " optimal low flow " downstream of development areas, which would guarantee aquatic life and cleanliness of rivers at all times.

l MULTIANNUAL PROGRAMMES FOR POLLUTION CONTROL AND REHABILITATION OF DETERIORATED MEDIA

The " Water Agencies " together with the National Fund for Rural Water Supply contribute to the implementation of consistent programmes for urban, industrial or agricultural pollution control and for the rehabilitation of rivers.

Since the 1970's, such programmes have been initiated with the local communities involved, especially for the protection of the waters of Lake Geneva, Lakes Annecy or Bourget, or to a lesser extent, Nantua Lake and also the Arcachon Basin for example,...

Subcontracting developments, to be planned on a watercourse on a long-term basis, can be envisaged between the partners concerned within " River Leasing Contracts ".

l ORGANIZATION OF FISHING AND FISHFARMING

Piscicultural fauna is a good indicator of the quality of a river and of its installations : fauna protection and development depend on mastering special techniques:

• piscicultural development associated with the cleansing and maintenance of river beds and banks, thus protecting the diversity of fish habitats;
  
• Calculation of the optimal low flow;
  
• equipment relating to the circulation of migrant fish : guiding, counting, fish passes;
  
• setting-up of inventories and observation networks;
  
• preparation of programmes for restoring migrants (" return to source " contracts)
  

The HIGHER COUNCIL OF FISHERIES offers its technical expertise in this field to Administrations responsible for regulating fresh water fishing, to piscicultural associations and local communities. The Council's water bailiffs are commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment to ensure law enforcement as regards fishing, water and aquatic media.

The activities of amateur fishermen, gathered in fishermen's associations, and professionals, should be based on piscicultural management planning, and on management units determined by piscicultural departmental schemes.

In France, fishbreeding in freshwater annually produces 60,000 tons of diverse fish for re-stocking and consumption, while guaranteeing a regular quality supply. Breeding takes place either in installations established in river diversions or in ponds.

C 2 - BETTER INTEGRATED LARGE DEVELOPMENTS

Public Authorities have entrusted specialized institutions with specific development or management responsibilities :

ðState Public Establishments:

• The Higher Council of Fisheries which is responsible for piscicultural fauna,
• The National Office for Forestry which is concerned with land rehabilitation and manages State and Public Community forests,
• The French Waterways which operate transportation infrastructures on rivers and canals.
  

ðPublic Establishments for interdepartmental cooperation:

• Public Establishment for the Development of Loire river and tributaries (EPALA),
• Interdepartmental Public Establishment for Dordogne (EPIDOR)
• Institution for the Dam-Reservoirs of Seine river
  

ðNational or regional companies:

• National Rhone Company
• Electricity of France
• Regional Development Companies:
  
  • Development Company for Lower-Rhone and Languedoc
  • Development Company for Gascogne
  • Rural Development Company for the Aquitaine
  • Hydraulic Office for Corsica
  • Canal of Provence Company
  • Company for the Development of Auvergne and Limousin.
    

From time immemorial, human societies have been trying to protect themselves against damaging natural phenomena such as erosion, torrential water flows, floods, drought.

Control of watercourses, from their sources to their mouths, has led to the implementation of large development programmes :

ðErosion control and torrent regulation

Owing to their relief and climatic conditions, mountainous lands are particularly exposed to risks of erosion caused by frost, melting snow and mostly by rainfalls that are sometimes torrential.

Special prevention and rehabilitation techniques are used in the high mountainous river basins; they are numerous and are aimed at stabilizing the ground and avoiding devastating high flows of torrents. Amongst the most operational are the following :

reforestation of eroded areas by means of settling populations planted after in vitro multiplication perfected by the National Rural Engineering Centre for Agriculture, Water and Forestry (CEMAGREF);

plantation of trees and maintenance of wooded areas by means of a dynamic planting programme (work of the National Office for Forestry);

prevention systems: self-stabilizing dams, sediment shores, rock protection shields, avalanche barriers, wind breaks, protection against landslides, are subcontracted to the service for Mountainous Land Reclamation (RTM) of the National Office for Forestry;

constructions and actions for the protection and management of watersheds: dykes, canals, dams, weirs, drainage of slopes, reforestation.

However, the use of these techniques could not be efficient or even possible without an adapted legislation, the main texts of which are the " mountain " law, forestry laws, and those covering civil defence, and the establishing of maps of and plans for hazard-prone areas.

ðProtection against floods

ðReplenishing low water flows

Drought or important water withdrawals at certain times of the year can cause a decrease in flow rates, sometimes dangerous for natural media and aquatic fauna as well as for health, and can impede all downstream water uses.

Thus, the State endowed itself with sufficient legal clauses in order to regulate water withdrawals and to foresee the minimal water release necessary to replenish low water flows. They are associated with authorizations or operating concessions.

If inter-seasonal flow rates can be regulated by building dam-reservoirs, the utilization of " gentle techniques " based on the natural functioning of the environment, and its capacity for " storing " surplus rainfall and releasing it during the dry season, has led to the implementation of other solutions; such as drawing ecological profiles of brooks or small streams, restoring ponds, reed-beds, peat-bogs and marshland; protecting wetlands, plantation and reforestation of banks, use of appropriate agricultural techniques.

ðAgricultural and rural water

In some regions of Southern France, Regional Development Companies (S.A.R) were entrusted with the overall mission of controlling water, aiming at improving and ensuring water supply. They are : the Gascogne Development Company in South Pyrenees, the Lower Rhone-Languedoc Company in Languedoc-Roussillon and the Canal of Provence Company for the Riviera coastline.

The developments thus implemented (reservoirs, canals, galleries...) by Regional Development Companies made it possible to irrigate wide areas of a collective nature : 110,000 ha in the South Pyrenees, 130,000 ha in Languedoc-Roussillon, 68,000 ha in Provence, which should be added to numerous individual irrigation systems. The management of collective networks is mainly carried out by SARs by way of concessions. Permanent teams, using special means of communication and tele-monitoring carry out a reliable non-stop monitoring and intervene when necessary.

Some SARs complete their actions by giving advice to farmers regarding a rational use of water, by conducting agronomic tests in an experimental way, and by developing technico-economic data banks related to irrigation or managing laboratories for analyses of soil or water.

These irrigation systems are always integrated into sanitation or drainage operations as well as land reclamation.

Further to their mere water activities, some SARs are involved in diverse economic developments in rural areas (rural tourism, creation of enterprises, support to agricultural branches) which are, quite often, solidly supported by hydro-agricultural equipment and its management.

ðTransportation and tourism

Rivers and canals have always been essential to economy, they have been the first means of transportation to be developed.

French waterways are managed by a State public establishment of an industrial and commercial nature, " Waterways of France " (V.N.F.). Its budget is provisioned by taxes on fluvial transportation and also on withdrawals of raw water consumed by canal users, and completed by State subsidies which are intended to assure and develop public services missions :

• promotion of waterways as a transportation means for merchandise and fluvial tourism,
• technical exploitation, maintenance, development of canals :
  • management of the heritage and the environment
  • improvement and development of the network
• management of the state waterways and water bodies,
• implementation of a fluvial transportation observatory with :
  • collection, processing, dissemination and management of statistical data
  • realization of economic surveys.
    

The establishment has a staff of 5,740 employees intervening over the entire national territory, covering an important volume of activities as concerns transportation of merchandise and fluvial tourism.

ðHydropower

In France, electric energy produced with water provides 18,5% of the total energy. This has required the construction of numerous dams and hydropower facilities (pressure pipes...) on the various watercourses of the territory.

These facilities were built before 1940, and are managed today by "Electricity of France" (EDF). Almost all of them were designed for the single purpose of energy production.