Abstract
According to 1804 French Civil Code, groundwater is considered as a private property. However, after this resource started to be intensively exploited by industries in the 1850’s, the State increasingly regulated its use. In 1935, a system of individual access and withdrawal rights, managed by the State, was established to protect deep confined aquifers which were showing signs of overexploitation. This system of use right was later on extended to unconfined shallow aquifers with the 1992 water law, mainly to protect the environment. A new management approach, based on individual volumetric entitlements, was then developed and tested in several French groundwater basins, subsequently obtaining a legal basis in the early 2000’s. The 2006 water law constitutes a clear break in French water policy. The system of individual volumetric entitlements managed by the State was cancelled and users asked to form Water Users’ Associations at the catchment level. Associations became the recipients of pooled water use entitlements, which they must share among their members using rules agreed collectively. Although this reform only applies to the agricultural sector, its represents a clear shift from a private to a common property regime.
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- 1.
Apart from several counties, where a preliminary authorisation is required beyond a certain depth (50–80 m) pursuant to the Water Act of 8 August 1935.
- 2.
Law n° 84-512 of 29th June 1984 relating to freshwater fishing and the management of fish resources. Journal Officiel de la République Française, n°30 June 1984, France, p. 2039–2045.
- 3.
The 1935 Water Act was repealed and replaced by the 1992 Water Act.
- 4.
The main examples are the Beauce aquifer, the Yèvre-Auron Basin (Cher county), the alluvial aquifers in the plains in Garonne-Tarn-Aveyron and Ariège, the Sud-Vendée aquifers, Vienne county, Charente county, and in the catchments located in the counties of Aisne, Aube, Somme and Sarthe.
- 5.
Law n° 2006-1772 of 30th December 2006 on water and aquatic environments, Journal Officiel de la République Française, n° 303 of 31 December 2006, France, Text n° 3/175.
- 6.
The volume to be abstracted is defined in the circular of 03/08/2010 and available online at: http://circulaire.legifrance.gouv.fr/pdf/2010/08/cir_31709.pdf
- 7.
A reader not familiar with the French context should keep in mind that rainfed agriculture is possible over the entire French territory. An interannual variation of water allocation therefore does not systematically threaten the economic viability of farms.
- 8.
This rationale is also applied in the western U.S. where the holder of a water right must use it (“beneficial use”) to avoid losing it (“use it or lose it”). Hanak & Stryjewski, 2012).
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Acknowlegdments
I warmly thank Steve Barnett, for his very detailed and useful comments on a previous version of this chapter. The contribution from Rebecca Nelson and Josselin Rouillard is also acknowledged. The research presented in this chapter has been supported by Brgm (OPTIQUANT project).
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Rinaudo, JD. (2020). Groundwater Policy in France: From Private to Collective Management. In: Rinaudo, JD., Holley, C., Barnett, S., Montginoul, M. (eds) Sustainable Groundwater Management. Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32766-8_3
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