abstraction supply zone - ASZ

Protecting water abstractions from the nonpoint-source pollution released in large part by farming activities is a crucial challenge for our societies. The Large-scale farming offering high economic and environmental performance scientific group (GIS GC-HP2E) brought together a number of participants to discuss these complex issues. This document recapitulates the projects presented, the viewpoints and the scientific contributions made during the meeting.

Protection of drinking-water abstractions from nonpoint-source agricultural pollution was already a major health issue 30 years ago and has today become an urgent regulatory problem. In parallel with the Water framework directive, which set goals for good water status by 2015, the Grenelle environmental agreement identified 500 priority abstractions for which action plans must be set up by 2012. The wide-ranging discussions produced a vast array of information on people’s experiences, technical solutions, opinions and questions. A review.

The legal texts stipulate that an action plan must be defined and implemented for priority abstractions with the local stakeholders. In this difficult situation, the local stakeholders are all looking for effective, practical solutions in the field. To assist in this work, a study covering the entire country was carried out to gain information on suitable strategies taking into account specific, local conditions.