40
The News N° 25 - February 2015
EUROPE - FRANCE
Audits and Studies
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
To implement the WFD and especially its
River BasinManagement Plans and Programs
of Measures, France has a strategy based on
a consistent hydrographicunit, the sub-basin,
in promoting the development of
Water
Development and Management Plans
(SAGE)
at this level.
Is the French ”SAGE” unique in Europe?
In eight European countries, IOWater
analyzed the tools for sub-basin water
resources management that meet the
characteristics of the French ”SAGE”:
l
Planning at the level of a sub-basin
or a consistent hydrographic unit;
l
Approach to sound and sustainable
water resourcesmanagement;
l
Amulti-stakeholder consultation fra-
mework;
l
A document having a regulatory
scopeanddefiningenforceable rules.
The observation of the eight European coun-
tries, Belgium (Walloon Region), Germany
(Lander of Lower Saxony), Italy, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the
United Kingdom, shows that these countries
have mainly developed plans for managing
water resources at regional level, depending
on their institutional, historical and cultural
context.
Spain is organizing water management on
the scale of major river basins, but Luxem-
bourg keeps water resource planning at
national level.
England has recently developed an approach
to planning at the level of consistent hydro-
graphic units.
If theProgramsofMeasuresof theRiver Basin
Management Plans are usually developed
with regional plans, some countries borde-
ring France have developed tools that draw
heavily on river contracts on the sub-basin
scale (theWalloonRegion, Luxembourg, Italy,
Spain occasionally).
The Lander of Lower Saxony, theNetherlands,
England, Walloon Region, Luxembourg and
Sweden have institutionalized dialogue in
multi-stakeholder committees. However, their
implementation method, their powers and
privileges vary for each country.
The “French SAGE” seems to remain
unique in Europe!
4
ARiver Basin
with strong contrasts
The Siagne, a permanent karstic river, is born
in the Escragnolles county and flows over
44 km before flowing out into theMediterra-
nean Sea. Situated inboth theVar andAlpes-
Maritimes Departments, its catchment area
covers a surfaceareaof 520 km² and includes
32municipalities.
Theassessment isbeing
completed
TheWater Development andManage-
ment Plan (SAGE) of the Siagne was
launched in July 2010 and the Local
Water Commission established on
14May2013.
The key structure for the ”SAGE” is the
Interdepartmental and Intermunicipal
single-purposed Syndicate (SIIVU) of
theUpper Siagne.
The group led by Acteon with IOWater
was selected to develop an assessment
of the Siagne ”SAGE”.
This2-year study started in spring2013. After
a phase for information collection and analy-
sis, including theorganizationof severalmee-
tings with groups of involved partners, the
initial assessment andbaseline scenariowere
validated by the Reading Committee in
September 2014.
Theprospectivephase isbeing
implemented
The ”SAGE” assessment startedwithapartici-
patory workshop in autumn 2014 and
the
contrasting alternative scenarios are
expected in early 2015.
A study is carried
out at the same time to define the water
volumes that can be abstracted.
The challenges of restoring ecological conti-
nuity, governance, optimization of hydraulic
structures andwater resources sharing are at
the coreof the actions tobe carriedout in the
coming years.
In this project, IOWater also deals with
the Geographic Information System
(GIS) and Water Information System
(WIS).
A cartographic atlas was completed
and an onlinemetadata catalogue was esta-
blished, freely available on thewebsite:
4
The Siagne ”SAGE” keeps going
250km
150
50 0
Service public d'information sur l'eau
SAGE
What territorial strategies
for water management in Europe?
Lake St. Cassien
Progress of the ”SAGEs”
on 15 January 2015
Intakes
and protection areas
