The achievement of good chemical status: an impossible mission for local water managers?

The European Water Framework Directive (2000) required to achieve good ecological and chemical status in surface waters of the EU Member States in 2015. For pesticides, this means ensuring that concentrations in rivers do not exceed 0.1 g/L per molecule and 0.5 g/L for the sum of the concentrations of the different molecules found. At national scale, EcoPhyto plan (2008) aimed to reduce pesticide use by 50% within 10. This plan has been revised and postponed to 2025 as observed pesticide use is varying between years and concentrations in river did not decrease as expected. Although vineyards cover a small percentage of agricultural land surfaces, they contribute to 20% of national pesticide use. The presence of pesticides in rivers surrounding wine territories is therefore a current environmental concern. Thus, the recovery of the water quality requires local action programs to reduce pesticide contamination in rivers. The Layon catchment comprises 13% of vineyard. It is therefore subject to an action program led by the local water committee: the SAGE Layon-Aubance-Louet. Its goal is to ensure pesticide concentrations are reduced to 1 g/L in 2018 and 0.5 g/L in 2027. In this context, one of the actions of the SAGE, with the assistance of the University of Angers, addresses the study of peaks in pesticide concentrations during runoff events in a small catchment covered by vineyards. Between 2009 and 2016, one of the two farmers has converted to organic farming with consequent decreases in pesticides input to the case study which thus complied with the EcoPhyto objectives. Results demonstrate first a peak intensity of pesticides in runoff waters in relation with the date of application with a decrease of concentrations during time after the treatment and second a relation between peaks of SPM and pesticides. Transfer of pesticides in this catchment is strongly linked to runoff. Thus, even if the increase of grass surface within vineyard improves the soil stability and decreases erosion sensitivity, it is not sufficient to stop all transfer of pesticides. Following the results of this study, neither the objectives of national policies to reduce by half the pesticide use nor the local objectives to decrease partially the un-weeded surface of vineyards would permit to achieve good chemical status, as confirmed by the current state of the water quality of the Layon river monitored by local water managers. Thus, in the continuation of all its efforts

Cross-cutting Perspective Freshwater

One singularity of northwestern Europe (NWE) is that severe droughts are rare events in the region and water scarcity has hardly been experienced in its history. The DROP pilot sites are not exceptions to this context. Although the lack of a drought history in wet areas can explain why drought and water scarcity are not necessarily the focus of (if ever considered in) river basin management plans, it must be noted that freshwater availability for drinking water provision remains a priority stake in both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Providing a reliable and safe supply of drinking water may thus be a leading entryway to the development of drought risk awareness and drought adaptation measures in a river basin. When such essential resource is threatened and the competition for water among users increases, there is a good chance that reflections and changes will be triggered. Water use conflicts and drinking water supply threats may arise due to increased water demand, but also due to decreased water availability. The later may occur because of natural climate variability, i.e., drier years than average, or as the result of the impact of climate change on local water resources. Climate change awareness is then an important asset to manage water availability. Where climate change awareness is low and adaptation measures are basically inexistent, social and political responses to drought adaptation may be slow and inefficient. However, even in those cases where climate change awareness is still low in general society, water authorities and other stakeholders are conscious that water demand tends to intensify with population and economic growth, rendering water scarcity conceivable and even foreseeable. Freshwater availability for drinking water supply is therefore an issue that can motivate the introduction of drought and water scarcity risks into the political and public agenda , even in “ drought-scarce ” regions. This chapter highlights the links between drought governance and the vulnerability of freshwater for drinking water supply, with a focus on drought adaptation. The main issues presented here are illustrated with how freshwater issues are managed in the DROP project cases with a particular focus on the two “ freshwater reservoir ” pilot sites: the Arzal dam in Brittany France (see Chap. 6 ) and the Eifel-Rur in Germany (see Chap. 4 ). Those two cases deal with reservoir management not only for drinking water supply (Fig. 11.1 ) but also for other uses, with various priority sets

Experimental identification of aminomethanol (NH2CH2OH)—the key intermediate in the Strecker Synthesis

The Strecker Synthesis of (a)chiral α-amino acids from simple organic compounds, such as ammonia (NH3), aldehydes (RCHO), and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) has been recognized as a viable route to amino acids on primordial earth. However, preparation and isolation of the simplest hemiaminal intermediate – the aminomethanol (NH2CH2OH)– formed in the Strecker Synthesis to even the simplest amino acid glycine (H2NCH2COOH) has been elusive. Here, we report the identification of aminomethanol prepared in low-temperature methylamine (CH3NH2) – oxygen (O2) ices upon exposure to energetic electrons. Isomer-selective photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PI-ReTOF-MS) facilitated the gas phase detection of aminomethanol during the temperature program desorption (TPD) phase of the reaction products. The preparation and observation of the key transient aminomethanol changes our perception of the synthetic pathways to amino acids and the unexpected kinetic stability in extreme environments

High frequency monitoring of pesticides in runoff water from a vineyard: ecotoxicological and hysteresis pattern analysis

Rainfall-induced peaks in pesticide concentrations can occur rapidly; therefore, low frequency sampling may largely underestimate maximum pesticide concentrations and fluxes. Detailed storm-based sampling of pesticide concentrations in runoff water to better predict pesticide sources, transport pathways and toxicity within the headwater catchments is actually lacking. High frequency monitoring (2 min) of dissolved concentrations and loads for seven pesticides (Dimetomorph, Fluopicolide, Glyphosate, Iprovalicarb, Tebuconazole, Tetraconazole and Triadimenol) and one degradation product (AMPA) were assessed for 20 runoff events from 2009 to 2012 at the outlet of a vineyard catchment in the Layon catchment in France. The pesticide concentrations reached 387 g/L. All of the runoff events exceeded the mandated acceptable concentrations of 0.1 g/L for each pesticide (European directive 2013/39/EC). High resolution sampling used to detect the peak pesticide levels revealed that Toxic Units (TU) for algae, invertebrates and fish often exceeded the European Uniform principles (25%). The instantaneous and average (time or discharge-weighted) concentrations indicated an up to 30- or 4-fold underestimation of the TU obtained when measuring the maximum concentrations, respectively, highlighting the important role of the sampling methods for assessing peak exposure. High resolution sampling combined with concentration-discharge hysteresis analyses revealed that clockwise responses were predominant (52%), indicating that Hortonian runoff is the prevailing surface runoff trigger mechanism in the study catchment. The hysteresis patterns for suspended solids and pesticides were highly dynamic and storm- and chemical-dependent. Intense rainfall events induced stronger C-Q hysteresis (magnitude). This study provides new insights into the complexity of pesticide dynamics in runoff water and highlights the ability of hysteresis analysis to improve the understanding of pesticide supply and transport

Modalités de transferts de pesticides dans un petit bassin versant viticole du Layon

Date du colloque&nbsp;: 2012</p

Facing Hydrometeorological Extreme Events : A Governance Issue

International audienceProvides an understanding of the relationship between social-ecological systems and multilevel governance so that readers can properly deal with hydrometeorological extreme events and hazardsBased on field investigations from EU research projects, this book is the first to devote itself to scientific and policy-related knowledge concerning climate change-induced extreme events. It depicts national and international strategies, as well as tools used to improve multilevel governance for the management of hydrometeorological risks. It also demonstrates how these strategies play out over different scales of the decision-making processes.Facing Hydrometeorological Extreme Events : A Governance Issue offers comprehensive coverage of such events as floods, droughts, coastal storms, and wind storms. It showcases real-life success stories of multilevel governance and highlights the individuals involved and the resources mobilized in the decision-making processes. The book starts by presenting a synthesis of hydrometeorological extreme events and their impacts on society. It then demonstrates how societies are organizing themselves to face these extreme events, focusing on the strategies of integration of risk management in governance and public policy. In addition, it includes the results of several EU-funded projects such as CLIMB, STARFLOOD, and INTERREG IVB project DROP.The first book dedicated to hydrometeorological extreme events governance based on field investigations from EU research projects Offers a “multi-hazards” approach—mixing policy, governance, and field investigations’ main outputs Features the results of EU-funded projects addressing hydrometeorological extreme events Part of the Hydrometeorological Extreme Events seriesFacing Hydrometeorological Extreme Events is an ideal book for upper-graduate students, postgraduates, researchers, scientists, and policy-makers working in the field

Changement climatique et cycle de l'eau : Impacts, adaptation, législation et avancées scientifiques

International audienc

What could change drought governance in Europe?: A comparative analysis between two case studies in France and UK

This chapter proposes an analysis of the water and drought governance contexts in case studies of two countries of North West Europe (NWE) that have been jointly impacted during the past severe droughts, France and the United Kingdom (UK) with respectively two case studies: the Vilaine catchment in French Brittany, and the Somerset Levels and Moors in south west UK. It presents a comparative analysis of the outputs of the implementation of the Governance Assessment Tool developed by H. Bressers et al. with the Contextual Interaction Theory, the theory at the origins of the GAT. After a brief description of the two case studies, the chapter describes the methodology used to study drought governance, both the GAT as refined in the European DROP‐project for drought‐governance analysis and the Contextual Interaction Theory. It also presents the main results and discussion. The chapter further presents general conclusions for drought‐governance resilience in NWE

Delivering a decision support system tool to a river contract: a way to implement the participatory approach principle at the catchment scale?

The MULINO project (MULti-sectoral, Integrated and Operational decision support system (DSS) for sustainable use of water resources at the catchment scale), funded by the Environment and Climate Programme of the European Union (EU), aims to support the scientific basis for integrated water management. The purpose of the project is to provide a tool to improve the integrated management of water resources at the catchment scale, based on the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). This paper presents the methodology aspects of the project. The design of the MULINO_DSS is based on the European Environment Agency DPSIR framework of environmental cause-effect relationships. D represents the driving forces, P, the pressures on the environment caused by human activities, S, the state of the environment, I, the impact on the environment and R, the human activities and desirable societal responses. This DPSIR chain provides the end-user of the DSS with an integrated view of complex, interacting issues. The first step in the MULINO project has been the analysis of local decision networks and the identification of an end-user to whom the DSS will be delivered. The importance of this step is illustrated by the results of the analysis for the Belgian case study: the Walloon part of the Dyle river catchment. The design of the DSS is made more complicated in this catchment by the fragmented nature of water management decision making. However, to overcome this problem, the design of the DSS was targeted at the river contract (RC) of the catchment. The coordinator of the RC is a focal point for a range of end-users and stakeholders with responsibility for water management in this catchment. This organisational structure was originally put in place to find a consensus when solving conflicting water management issues. Thus, the concept for the DSS development and delivery fits with the participatory approach principle of the WFD and builds on existing local networks of integrated water management. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved