Protecting water from agricultural diffuse pollutions: between action territories and hydrogeological demarcation

Summary

The contamination of water resources by non-point pollution of agricultural origin, primarily nitrates and pesticides, has become a major issue in water policies. In France, the national consultation of the Grenelle of the Environment in 2007 led to project approaches, aimed at protecting Water Catchment Areas (WCA). Based on the implementation of preventive management, WCA projects aim at negotiating changes in farming practices in these zones, including conversion to organic farming. But difficulties occur in creating links between WCA and organic farming in these projects. Beyond the conflicts between different stakeholders often put forward, we suggest adopting a geographical approach on the interactions between WCA and the action territories of three types of stakeholders. A combination of statistical, GISprocessing and comprehensive methods was used to study the cross-referencing between WCA, defined according to hydrogeological bases, and action territories of farmers, collection companies and local a thorities. The results show how the demarcation of the water catchment areas on biophysical bases struggles to be effective for action, in particular for the agricultural question and the development of organic farming. In taking account of organisational levels and spatial patterns, the article illustrates the discrepancy between WCA and action territories of farmers, collectors and local authorities. These results call for better integration of the concept of territory project in WCA projects, allowing interests to be combined and reflection to be directed towards local governance in the field of water quality.