All the sectors of the catchment area most vulnerable to diffuse pollution. It corresponds to a realistic intervention scale to improve the quality of water at the catchment. Depending on the type of catchment and its environment, there may be one or more distinct zones.
Area identified by the intersection of the cartographic zoning of intrinsic vulnerability and the zoning of agricultural pressures developed following technical-economic studies focused on risk assessment. The catchment area protection area is identified as part of the definition of action programs on catchment areas. This is an optional process leading to the identification of an area subject to environmental constraints (ZSCE), the protection area of the catchment area. The founding regulatory text of the catchment area protection zone is the departmental decree delimiting this same zone.
Natural (spring) or artificial access (drilling, drain, well, etc) to groundwater. Each water point has a national code (BSS code) and is located by geographic coordinates through a projection system. It is also defined by the following additional pieces of information: a name or label, an altitude, an address (locality), a location map.
Groundwater science, included in the Earth sciences. Hydrogeology combines knowledge of the geological and hydrological conditions and physical laws governing the origin, presence, movements and properties of groundwater, as well as the application of this knowledge to human actions on groundwater, including their prospection, their capture and their protection.
Daughter Directive 2006/118/EC of 12 December 2006 on the protection of groundwater from both a quantitative and qualitative point of view. It aims to establish criteria for assessing the good chemical status of groundwater. The definition of this
Extraction of fresh water from a groundwater source or surface, permanently or temporarily, and conveyed to the place of use. Water abstractions include all activities related levies generated by agriculture, industry (including energy), the supply of drinking water, or other (mineral spring authorized, production artificial snow).