Question 9579 — streams, ponds and lakes

Summary

Mr. Julien Guibert draws the attention of the Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, Sea and Fisheries to the deleterious effects of a dogmatic application of the principle of ecological continuity in watercourses, in particular in the Nièvre department. In the name of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union and within the framework of a technocratic reading of “ecological continuity”, the administrations responsible for the environment impose or strongly encourage the removal of thresholds, dams, reaches and reservoirs which are nevertheless essential to the operation of water mills. These structures, often centuries old, are an integral part of the hydraulic, historical and landscape heritage of rural areas. Their disappearance contributes to the loss of local identity, the destabilization of aquatic environments, the drying out of wetlands and less resilience to periods of drought. Furthermore, the systematic removal of ponds, dikes and reaches deprives aquatic environments of essential refuge areas during low water periods. These structures allow pockets of water to be maintained when stream flow becomes insufficient, thus ensuring the survival of many aquatic species. Their disappearance accelerates the drying out of waterways already weakened by climate change, aggravating fish mortality, loss of biodiversity and ecological imbalances. This worrying trend highlights the urgent need to conserve existing infrastructure, which plays a buffer role in times of water stress. This policy, supposedly ecological, in reality aims at a return to a supposedly “natural” state of the rivers, that is to say to a nature dehumanized, prior to any human activity. It sacrifices common sense, the balance of managed ecosystems and the know-how of past generations to a fantasized vision of nature. The biologist Christian Lévêque, in his work Biodiversity with or without man, denounces this ideology which, under the pretext of protecting the environment, ends up eradicating all traces of human intervention in the landscape, including when it was beneficial and harmonious. While mills could contribute to the local energy transition, hydraulic regulation, the maintenance of ordinary biodiversity and rural revitalization, their destruction appears incomprehensible, even counterproductive. He therefore asks her if she is considering a clear reorientation of the ecological continuity policy, in order to reconcile environmental objectives with the preservation of heritage, traditional uses of water and the memory of territories.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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