Question 33900 — streams, ponds and lakes

Summary

Mr. Philippe Chassaing draws the attention of the Minister of Ecological Transition to the consequences of Decree No. 2020-828 of June 30, 2020 (supplemented by an order of the same day) modifying the nomenclature and procedure in matters of water policing. This text provides that all work aimed at restoring the natural functionality of aquatic environments and ecological continuity is now subject to simple declaration (and not plus authorization) with, as a corollary, making environmental and social impact studies, public inquiries, as well as information for citizens and local residents' groups, obsolete. The direct impact is that it could be carried out more easily to destroy water environments of anthropogenic origin, that is to say shaped by man throughout history (bays, canals, ponds, bodies of water, etc.), without taking into consideration their ecological role (conservation of the biotopes which have been formed in these environments), tourism and heritage (the 60,000 mills of France representing the third heritage of the country). Indeed, the mills, which contribute to the richness of the landscapes and local heritage, when they are deprived of the watercourses which feed them, risk being condemned in the long term. While the authorization and investigation process public adversarial system consists precisely of a procedure for organizing consultative and deliberative democracy, its suppression should logically generate legal insecurity. In addition to the lack of information on the projects that could see the light of day in their department, associations and local elected officials fear that they will no longer be able to file litigation against the orders authorizing the destruction of "obstacles to ecological continuity” in watercourses. While the circular of April 30, 2019 relating to “the implementation of the action plan for a peaceful policy of restoring the ecological continuity of waterways” has, it seems, hardly allayed the concerns of elected officials and local residents' groups, the latter are now contesting the regulatory provisions aimed at overriding local consultation and are demanding a ecological transition which is not punitive, but “participatory” and reasoned, applied on a case-by-case basis, as close as possible to the field, with the assistance of all local actors and in the common interest of the territory. Also, he asks her for details on the purpose of the aforementioned decree and if she intends to follow up on the requests from groups of elected officials and associations defending the milling heritage to withdraw - or at the very least to amend - this text.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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