Freshwater - National Responses (France)

Monitoring the quality of aquatic environments:

In 2007, the networks for monitoring the quality of aquatic environments were brought into line with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive in terms of surveillance and operational monitoring. As part of the regulatory framework, resources for drinking water are also subject to monitoring of their suitability by the water distributors and the departments of the Ministry of Health.

Historically, surveillance was initially for macro-pollutants – organic, nitrogenous and phosphorous pollution. Monitoring of pesticides, and more generally of micro-pollutants, really took off at the beginning of the 1990s and has since continued to advance particularly as a result of the Water Framework Directive and the obligation to monitor hazardous and priority substances.

Trend in the number of measurement points for the quality of watercourses, by substance investigated in metropolitan France. Source: Agences de l’eau - Conseils généraux (General Councils) – Diren (Regional Environmental Directorate) – Draf (Regional Directorate for Agriculture and Forestry), SRPV (Regional Plant Protection Department) - Processing SOeS.

Pesticides: increased monitoring

Monitoring requirements, which have increased since the beginning of the 1990s, have led to a growth in the number of measurement points and the number of substances investigated.

Number of measurement points for pesticides in watercourses

Source: Agences de l’eau - Conseils généraux – Diren – Draf, SRPV - Processing SOeS (Metropolitan France + Overseas Departments).

Source: Agences de l’eau - Conseils généraux – Diren – Draf, SRPV - Processing SOeS (Metropolitan France + Overseas Departments)

The number of compounds investigated at least once in all the samples and at all measurement points each year has increased in line with the number of measurement points. The number for watercourses increased from 217 in 1997 to 453 in 2007, reflecting the very large number of substances – nearly 400 – authorised in agriculture which are likely to be present in surface waters. It is also necessary to add substances which have been withdrawn from the market but may still be present in the environment, as well as the compounds resulting from the decomposition of the substances used.

Compounds monitored in groundwater also increased sharply from 186 in 1997 to 447 in 2006, before falling back to 160 in 2007. This fall is explained by the fact that some substances were not found in groundwater.

However, these substances are not monitored at all measurement points because, although some substances are used very widely, others are associated with crop types found only in certain areas. Systematic investigation of all of the compounds cannot be justified, therefore, and so the figures mask a very wide variety of situations.

Management of drought

The problems of managing drought arise as much in the short term, in the case of crisis situations, as in the long term in the context of climate change. The severity of the drought in 2003 led to an updating of the regulatory tools, in particular to enable temporary restrictions on uses of water that are the subject of regular monitoring.

Trend in the number of departments affected by water restrictions during the summer in metropolitan France

Notes: Metropolitan France; number of departments affected by at least one prefectural order imposing restrictions on uses of water during the months indicated. Source: Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea (Direction de l'eau et de la biodiversité - water and biodiversity directorate) - Eaufrance, April 2010.

However, these restrictive measures are more suitable for managing exceptional climatic episodes than long-term management in the context of climate change. Nor are they suited to management of quantity as defined by the Water Framework Directive. Consequently, other tools have been set up locally to manage low water levels, and a national plan for the management of water scarcity was launched at the end of 2005. Further, the Water and Aquatic Environments Act (LEMA) of 30 December 2006 modifies the management of water resources. As a result of various measures – collective organisation of abstractions through a single agency for irrigation in areas of shortage, etc. – it should be possible to restore the balance between abstraction and environmental capacity by 2011.

Implementation of the Water Framework Directive and local water policy

Inventory:

In connection with implementation of the Water Framework Directive, at the end of 2004 an initial inventory was drawn up by the Water Agencies and was submitted in 2005, in accordance with Article 5 of the European Water Framework Directive. This inventory was revised at the end of 2009 when the Water Development and Management Master Plan (SDAGE) was revised.

In each river basin district, the first characterisation of surface water bodies and bodies of groundwater was re-evaluated, using the initial data from the monitoring programme which started in 2007, supplemented where necessary by earlier data.

The status of a surface water body is assessed in terms of:

·          ecological status: according to five classes from high to bad;

·          chemical status: according to three classes, good, bad or undetermined.

Good ecological status takes into account the quality of all the ecological building blocks: water, fauna, flora and habitat. A confidence level is attached to the assessment of the ecological status as the data cannot be sufficient at this stage.

The chemical status is assessed on the basis of the measured concentrations of some 40 substances – metals, pesticides, etc. – which must not exceed the environmental quality standards in force. 

Public consultation in 2008:

Under the Water Framework Directive, public consultations are mandatory for water management through SDAGE. An initial consultation took place in 2005 and a further round in each of the six basins in mainland France between 15 April and 15 October 2008. This was designed to gather public opinion regarding the preliminary draft of SDAGE and its associated programme of measures for 2010-2015. As part of this, each citizen was asked to give his or her opinion by answering a questionnaire delivered to 28 million households in mainland France). The master plans have to take into account, as far as possible, the opinions expressed during these consultations and the objectives laid down in 2008 by the Grenelle Environment Forum: two-thirds of the surface water bodies to achieve good status by 2015, 90 % by 2021.

Bibliographical trails:

·         Agences de l’Eau, 2007. ‘Contrat de rivières et risques d’inondations’. January 2007, 39 p. (Can be downloaded from: http://www.gesteau.eaufrance.fr).

·         Ifen (French Environmental Institute) 2007. ‘La facture d'eau domestique en 2004 - 177 euros par personne et par an’, 4 pages from Ifen, n°117.

·         Ifen, 2007. ‘Les services publics de l'eau en 2004 - Volet eau potable’. Ifen, Orléans. 30 p. (series Les dossiers de l'Ifen, 7).

·         Ifen, 2008. ‘Les services publics de l'assainissement en 2004’. Ifen, Orléans. 26 p. (series Les dossiers de l'Ifen, 10).

·         Ifen, Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development and Planning, December 2007. ‘Les pesticides dans les eaux - Données 2005’. Orléans, Ifen, 36 p.

·         Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development (Water Directorate), Agences de l’Eau, Diren, 2003. ‘Le suivi des schémas directeurs d'aménagement et de gestion des eaux’. 8 p. (Can be downloaded from: http://publications.ecologie.gouv.fr).

·         Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, Agences de l’Eau, Conseil supérieur de la pêche (Fisheries Board) 2003. ‘Portée juridique et rédaction des Sage, petit guide pratique’. September 2003, 91 p. (Can be downloaded from: http://www.gesteau.eaufrance.fr).

Internet sites: http://www.ifen.fr/acces-thematique/eau.html

• http://e-phy.agriculture.gouv.fr : Ministry of Agriculture.
• http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr : Ministry of the Environment;
  Heading ‘Ressources, territoires et habitats’ (resources, territories and habitats) and then ‘eau et milieux aquatiques’ (water and aquatic environments).
• http://www.eaufrance.fr : The portal for water.
• http://www.ifen.fr : Service de l'observation et des statistiques (Observation and Statistics Service) of the Ministry of Ecology. Heading ‘Publications’.
• http://www.lesagencesdeleau.fr : access to the internet sites of the Water agencies.
  Access to the drafts of the SDAGE and programmes of measures.
• http://www.observatoire-pesticides.gouv.fr : Observatoire des résidus de pesticides (Pesticide residues monitoring centre)
• http://www.oieau.fr : Office international de l'eau (International Office for Water); heading ‘Organisation française de l'eau’ (organisation of water management in France).
• http://www.sante.gouv.fr : Ministry of Health; heading ‘Dossiers de la santé’ (health files) > ‘Eau’ (water).