Glossaire de A à Z

Protected area under the Ramsar convention. This intergovernmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar (Iran) and ratified by France in 1986, deals with Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitats.

Water that has been subjected to wastewater treatment and delivered to a user as recovered wastewater. This is the direct supply of treated effluents to the user. Wastewater discharged into a watercourse and used downstream is not taken into consideration, nor is recycling within industrial sites.

The data most shared in an information system (e.g. the identifiers of the various entities, whether gauging stations on rivers, water abstractions, etc). The National Service for Water Data and Reference-dataset Management (Sandre) distributes the reference data sets of the Water Information System (WIS).

A set of homogeneous reference data which are codified and listed. The reference datasets established by the National Service for Water Data and Reference-dataset Management (Sandre) are regularly evolving alphanumeric or geographic data. Alphanumeric data are lists of codes (e.g. codes of parameters such as chlorine demand (1397), methods, stakeholders, classifications, measuring stations, etc). Geographic data are geo-located objects (e.g. water bodies, measuring stations,

Specifications and structured set of pieces of information used for the implementation of an information system, providing a common framework for several applications. The National Service for Water Data and Reference-dataset Management (Sandre) produces specification documents and datasets constituting the reference frame for the data of the Water Information System (WIS).

Legal reference flow, defined as the monthly low-flow recurring every five years (or frequency of 1/5, i.e. occurring one year in five), known by the acronym QMNA 5 (frequency 1/5).

Framework Document elaborated in each metropolitan area, by the Regional Council and the regional prefect, in association with local stakeholders, locally developed the green and blue infrastructure. The Regional Ecological Coherence Scheme (SRCE) is to identify biodiversity reservoirs and ecological corridors that link them. It includes an action plan to ensure the preservation and restore ecological continuity identified while taking into account land use planning issues and human activities. The SRCE must also be compatible with the planning documents, such as territorial coherence…

Document prepared by an Inter-service Mission for Water (MISE), the regionalized operational action plan (PAOT) plans the field actions to be carried out to implement the programme of measures and thus reach the targets set out in the

Register established on a river basin scale identifying areas designated as requiring special protection under the Community legislation in force: vulnerable areas ("nitrates" Directive), sensitive zones ("Urban Wastewater Treatment" Directive), areas designated under the "Natura 2000" directive, etc. The deadline for establishing the register of protected areas was December 2004. This register should then be regularly updated.

Action to rehabilitate a more or less artificialized environment to its original and natural status. By trying to rehabilitate all the physical characteristics of the environment (e.g. meanders recovered in an improved river), revitalization aims to recover all the initial potentials of the environment in terms of biological diversity, self-cleaning capacity, etc. Most ambitious than restoration, revitalization aims to globally recreate the ecological functioning and

Vegetation that grows on the rivers banks or bodies of water located in the border zone between land and water (ecotones). It consists of special populations because of the presence of water during periods of varying length (willow, alder, ash-tree at the edge, maple and elm at higher height, pedunculate oak, hornbeam on the top of the river banks). We distinguish: afforestation of river banks - stream-side trees (usually managed under river maintenance programmes) located close to the minor bed, from the alluvial forest that extends more broadly in the floodplain. The nature of the riparian vegetation is closely related to surface and subsurface flows. It acts upon the geometry of the bed, on river bank stability, water quality, aquatic life, plant and animal biodiversity.

Strip of natural vegetation located along a river, and which differs from the surrounding matrix, including the river bank, the floodplain and part of the alluvial terraces. The presence of a stream or wood is not enough to make corridors. It is their conduction function that defines them. At the regional level, the riparian corridor appears to be a relatively uniform area (line of trees). At the local level, sedimentary and hydrological constraints provide variability of conditions resulting in a mosaic of habitats. The corridor is a transition zone between the water system and terrestrial system. Thus,…

Prevention document aimed at controlling urbanization in areas exposed to a hazard. Established by the State, the risk prevention plans (PPR) are public utility easements and must be appended to the

Permanent edge of a watercourse, located above the normal water level. The river bank is characterized by its cross-sectional shape (gently sloping bank, steep bank), its composition (sand, marl), its vegetation (herbaceous, shrub. Frequently subject to overflow and erosion from the stream, the banks are habitats for many species. They allow the passage of discrete animals like water rat, muskrat, water shrew or the Pyrenean desman. Some changes in the water level allow boulders to appear and form excellent perches for the dipper. Sand martins enjoy the banks to do their nest. Crawfish, fish and macroinvertebrates use shelters on the banks to hide, breed or feed.

Action to reduce any type of erosion of the river banks. Depending on the objective and hydraulic forces acting on the bank, various methods can be used, from plant engineering to heavier constructions (masonry/concrete/rock revetment, gabions, piling, etc).

The most upstream area of a watershed territory. The river basin head is the land where the small streams close to springs flow through.

Upstream portion of the catchment areas and by extension the upstream section of rivers which, in hilly areas in particular, are often less exposed to anthropogenic pressures than the downstream parts (but still very fragile) and from this point of view are reference sections to be preserved.

Planning document for water management, established for each basin or group of basins, which sets out basic guidelines to achieve sound and sustainable water resources management, determines the objectives for water bodies and plans the necessary provisions to achieve the environmental objectives, to prevent the deterioration of water status and give fundamental orientations. The SDAGEs, approved for the first time in 1996 under the Water Act of 1992, have been updated in late 2009 to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). They now include management plans under this Directive. The SDAGE is developed and adopted by the

Action on a river for recovering the entire bed and river banks of the watercourse to achieve the priority goal of increasing the hydraulic capacity of the targeted segment. This implies flow acceleration and therefore an increased flood

Set of regular activities to keep the potentiality of the ecosystem (biotope, habitat and reproduction of species, water flow,

Action to establish and/or manage a set of facilities on the river or in the river basin to reduce variations in the hydrological regime of a river (significant low-flow, flash flood, etc).

Technical body gathering the basin delegated DREAL (regional directorate for the environment, development and housing), the water agency and the National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environments. The river-basin district level is responsible for proposing the technical content of the draft master plan for water development and management (SDAGE) to the basin committee and preparing draft programmes of measures and monitoring programmes on behalf of the

Biological treatment process at fixed culture on carriages. These rotating biological contactors (RBC), generally polystyrene, measure 2 to 3 m in diameter and rotate about a horizontal axis by being partly immersed. Sludges, putrescible very produced by this system are removed by a secondary clarifier.

Water driving substances attached to fine particles through the soil. Nitrates and some pesticides in particular (or their degradation by-products) can reach groundwater and affect its quality up to making water unfit for consumption.

Surface water moving more or less rapidly depending on the flow, the relief, or on the bottom roughness. For example, streams and rivers are running water.

Part of atmospheric precipitation (rain, snow) which flows on the ground surface and drainage basin slopes.