Access to information in Switzerland : From secrecy to transparency

Access to information legislations are now present in over 50 countries world-wide. Lagging behind some of its own Cantons, the Swiss Federal government was until recently one of the few hold outs in Europe. But, in December 2004, the Confederation voted the 'Loi sur la Transparence de l'administration' or Law on Transparency (LTrans) a Law that came into effect in July 2006. This paper presents an overview of the new Law and underlines the main institutional challenges to its introduction in Switzerland

Les stratégies des organisations publiques pour éviter l'accès à l'information

Les lois sur l'accès à l'information contraignent les gouvernements et les administrations publiques à la transparence et ainsi à divulguer l'information dont ils disposent. Pourtant, si ces lois ont permis d'accroître l'information des citoyens, on constate que de nombreuses organisations publiques cherchent toujours à dissimuler de l'information alors qu'aucun intérêt public ou privé prépondérant ne justifie ce comportement. Cet article établit une typologie de ces comportements, les décrit et les illustre au travers de nombreux exemples

Transparence et accès à l'information : typologie des comportements organisationnels des administrations publiques visant à limiter l'accès à l'information

La transparence de l'action gouvernementale et des administrations publiques est devenue une exigence démocratique inscrite dans de nombreux pays dans des lois sur l'accès à l'information. Or, si ces lois ont permis d'accroître l'information des citoyens, on constate toujours que de nombreuses organisations publiques cherchent à dissimuler de l'information alors qu'aucun intérêt public ou privé prépondérant ne justifie ce comportement. Ce working paper établit une typologie de ces comportements et les décrit avec notamment de nombreux exemples tirés des expériences faites aux USA, au Canada et en Suisse

Le Tactilo : au coeur du débat sur la régulation des jeux de hasard et d'argent

Dans plusieurs pays (Suisse, France, États-Unis, Royaume-Uni), le cadre de régulation des jeux de hasard et d'argent est différencié selon la nature et la forme des jeux. Ainsi, le système suisse est régulé différemment suivant qu'il s'agit de loteries et de paris ou de casinos. Dans chacun de ces deux cas, un cadre juridique et de régulation diffèrent s'applique. Le système devient complexe lorsque certains jeux ou opérations ne peuvent pas être clairement attribués à un système de régulation ou à un autre ou lorsque des conflits de compétence interviennent entre les autorités de régulation. C'est le cas du Tactilo. Ce working paper présente de manière synthétique les différents aspects de la régulation de ce nouveau mode de distribution des jeux que sont les automates de type Tactilo et discute les développements légaux et les implications financières entourant ce débat. Ces éléments permettent de comprendre le débat actuel et de mieux comprendre les enjeux de la décision attendue du Tribunal fédéral dans ce dossier. Le Tactilo, un jeu de loterie ou un jeu de casino...

Délimitation des périmètres de protection des puits de pompage en zone agricole à l'aide de la simulation mathématique

Un périmètre de protection de puits de pompage est la surface entourant le puits, dans laquelle des mesures sont prises pour empêcher des contaminants de migrer et de contaminer l'eau de ce puits. Dans l'établissement des périmètres de protection, de nombreux facteurs doivent être considérés, et une approche analytique systématique doit être adoptée. Les modèles mathématiques de simulation peuvent être employés en ce sens et sont souvent les seules méthodes capables de déterminer les périmètres de protection quand des critères quantitatifs sont utilisés. Une telle approche a été appliquée, en couplant un modèle de transport de contaminant en zone non saturée avec un modèle de transport en zone saturée. Le modèle en zone non saturée VULPEST évalue les concentrations de pesticide atteignant la nappe. Ces concentrations sont ensuite utilisées comme données d'entrée du modèle en zone saturée. Ce dernier considère les vitesses d'écoulement et l'influence de chaque puits. Les résultats quantitatifs permettent alors la détermination de périmètres de protection spécifiques à chaque contaminant potentiel. Cette application, réalisée sur un important site de culture de la pomme de terre du Québec, e permis de comparer favorablement les concentrations prédites à celles mesurées dans l'eau d'un puits, et de déterminer le périmètre de protection spécifique au pesticide utilisé. Le cas présenté est un exemple des applications possibles et futures d'une telle méthode pour la détermination des périmètres de protection des puits de pompage.A wellhead protection area is the surface and subsurface area surrounding a waterwell through which contaminants are reasonably likely to move toward and reach. In the past, various approaches have been taken to delineate wellhead protection areas : fixed circles or rings around the well; simplified variable shapes based on geo-hydrologic mapping and classification ; zones with prescribed minimum travel times. However, in establishing wellhead protection areas, many factors need to be considered : zone of influence around the well; well recharge area; flow paths; transport velocities; travel times; sources and types of contamination. To determine a site-specific wellhead protection area, a systematic analytic approach must be taken. Mathematical simulation models may be employed and are often the only method capable to determine the wellhead protection area when quantitative criteria are used.Such an approach can be used in agricultural zones, where pesticides are applied, by coupling a solute transport modal for the unsaturated zone with a saturated zone transport model. The (unsaturated zone) VULPEST model is an evaluation tool for the groundwater contamination by pesticides based on the transport modeling. Developed as a management tool, it permits the evaluation of the groundwater vulnerability to pesticides in terme of risk of contamination. It evaluates the concentrations of pesticide that reach the water table, taking into account the spatial variability of hydrodynamic, physical and physicochemical parameters of the soil. The variability of parameters is taken into account in the Monte Carlo approach. This approach consists of carrying out a sufficient number of simulations so that the distribution of values assigned to each parameter, these values being randomly selected from a chosen probability distribution, approximates the given distribution.The concentrations obtained from the VULPEST model are used as input data in the model which simulates the transport and the fate of the contaminant in the saturated zone. This model uses the finite difference technique to simulate flow and solute transport. It considers the flow velocities and the influence of each well. In steady state conditions, the linked transport models in unsaturated and saturated zones may be considered independent. The quantitative results obtained by these means determine the vulnerability level of the well. Finally, they permit the delineation of the wellhead protection area for a specific contaminant, that is a given pesticide.An application was performed to an important potato crop area in Quebec. Few years ago, this site has shown a contamination of the well water by the pesticide aldicarb. The cultivated soil consists of marine and fluvial sand with medium to coarse grain sizes, deposited on a sea clay with a thickness of about 20 m in some places. Potatoes are intensively grown in this region. In the eighties, a contamination by the pesticide aldicarb was noticed in some wells of this region. The granular form of aldicarb is applied during the sowing period (mid-May) at the recommended rate of 2.24 kg/ha. It has a high solubility (6 000 mg/l) and is leached by soil humidity. The aldicarb is transformed by oxidation to sulfoxide then to sulfone during its transit in the unsaturated zone. After a characterization of the soil physical parameters, calculations were run for both the unsaturated and the saturated zones. The depths of the well and the aquifer are 5 m and 3 m respectively. The thickness of the aquifer affected by pumping is about 2 m. The application of the pesticide aldicarb was done during 1982 and 1983.The predictive results obtained by modelling for the pesticide concentrations in the well water were favorably comparerd to the concentrations measured at the site. The concentrations of pesticide in the water reach their peaks 7 weeks after every application. The maximum concentrations reaching the water table were found to be about 0,5 mg/l. This level exceeds largely the water quality criterion of 9 µg/l set by Health and Welfare Canada, and the one of 10 µg/l of the US-EPA. The well concentrations are calculated by taking into account transport in the saturated zone and decay processes. The maximum concentrations obtained are near 24 µg/l for a decay rate of the pesticide in the aquifer of 0,003 d-1. This decay rate is the one corresponding of the hall-lite of 8 months found by other researchers for Florida soils. The analysis of the water well during this period shows concentrations of about 10 µg/l. Moreover, the leaching of the contaminant into the well, and its persistence in the soil and groundwater is still present over 3 years after the last application. Using the water quality criterion of 9 µg/l set by Health and Welfare Canada, calculations have provided the delineation of the wellhead protection area specific to the pesticide aldicarb. The boundary delineation of water well protection area is determined by the numerical technique of reverse path line. The maximum extension of the well protection area obtained by this mean is 110 meters. It corresponds to a peak arrival with a decay of 1.5 years after the application.The case study shows an example of the possible and future applications for such a method for the delineation of the wellhead protection areas. Such an approach permits to council the best use of pesticides with an appropriate groundwater protection scheme, indeed, agricultural managers can safely decide on the pesticide application rate and date, as on the choice between various pesticides, with regard to the groundwater quality protection. Through this way, regulators and scientists can base their decisions for the registration of new pesticides by testing, before their use, their possible impacts on groundwater. Comparisons can be easily doge between water quality criteria and predicted quantifies, and regulatory decisions can be taken in light of these results

Less is more ? The Commission proposal on access to EU documents and the proper limits of transparency

Transparency is now seen as a key tool of democratic governance. The European Union's commitment to transparency is now at the centre of a crucial debate between the Commission and the Parliament on the future of citizen's right of access to information. This article presents the main characteristics of the current regime and questions the pertinence of the proposed changes in light of the international drive at modernising access to information laws and the attempt at identifying the ̳proper limits of transparency'. The questions raised range from the identification of what can be accessed to the definition of exemption and the protection of competing interests

Analyse de sensibilité paramétrique d'un modèle simulant le transport de pesticide dans le sol

Afin de protéger l'eau souterraine des pesticides épandus à la surface des sols agricoles, on doit être capable de prédire et d'évaluer a priori les risques de contamination. La modélisation mathématique, qui est basée sur la représentation des processus, s'avère être un outil à privilégier pour une telle prédiction. Cependant, la fiabilité des résultats de ces modèles est fonction de la précision et de la représentativité des différents paramètres d'entrée. A l'aide d'une analyse de sensibilité, il est possible d'évaluer l'impact de la variabilité de ces paramètres sur les résultats de la modélisation. Une étude de sensibilité menée avec le modèle Pesticide Rosit Zone Model (PRZM) a permis d'identifier les paramètres physiques d'entrée dont la variation apporte le plus de changements au niveau des principaux résultats, c'est-à-dire les paramètres d'entrée auxquels le modèle est le plus sensible. L'utilisation du coefficient de sensibilité relatif s'avère être à cet égard un outil de comparaison fort efficace dans le cadre d'une telle étude. Les paramètres d'apport en eau (précipitations) et en pesticide (taux d'application) sont ceux dont les variations provoquent le plus d'impact au niveau des résultais de la simulation. Egalement, les résultats des simulations sont aussi sensibles aux variations de la capacité au champ et de la densité du sol. La température, le point de flétrissement, ta profondeur d'évaporation et la dispersion sont des paramètres auxquels la modélisation est peu sensible.The ever increasing number of cases of groundwater contamination by pesticides has recently given rise to numerous experimental studies on the tale of these compounds within the soil-water system. In parallel with these experimental studies, the quick and intensive development of numerous simulation models bas emphasized the importance of the various factors and processes controlling the transport of pesticides in the unsaturated zone. The calibration and the validation of such deterministic models, which are especially used in groundwater management, requires the evaluation of several parameters related to the nature of the pesticide as well as to the pedologic and hydrogeological conditions of a given site. The reliability of results predicted by those models is mainly a function of the precision and the representativeness in the evaluation of those parameters at a specific site.The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of a simulation modes of pesticide movement in the unsaturated zone with regards to the variation in soil physical properties. More particularly, a sensitivity analysis was performed in order to determine the importance of the variation in these parameters with respect to simulation results obtained from the Pesticide Root Zone Model (PRZM). The spatial variability of the composition and structure of the soil, which comes from the site pedogenesis, is the main cause of the variability of the soil water distribution and of the soil transient properties. The sensitivity analysis of a model with respect to the variation in these parameters allows the evaluation of the impact of their representativeness on the model output results. Such an analysis thus allows the determination of an acceptable level of precision (or error) for which an increase of precision in the evaluation of a parameter does not anymore correspond to a significant gain in the representativeness of the model results. It also permits the estimation of the impact of a potential variation of a parameter on the prediction of pesticide transport in the unsaturated zone.The deterministic PRZM modal used in this study has been developed by the US-EPA and devoted to pesticide application on agricultural sites. This modal evaluates the pesticide leaching towards groundwater with respect to the type of culture and pesticide used, the climatic conditions, the soil characteristics and some agricultural practices. Output results from the model can he expressed in concentrations or masses of pesticide, in fluxes or cumulated quantities. Simulations were performed using characteristics and data of the Portneuf region (Quebec). This area of potato farming was until recently one of the Quebec most important sites for aldicarb application before the recommendation of its non use. Cultivated surfaces, which are rather homogeneous, consist of medium-size sand. Simulations were performed river a ten year period (1974 to 1984), implying one application of pesticide a1 the seed-time, and a trop for each year.The parameters of water and pesticide inputs (rain and application rates) are those that induce the higher impact on the simulation results. The simulation results were also influenced by the variation of the field capacity and of the soil bulk density. Temperature, wilting point, maximum evaporation depth and dispersion are the input parameters for which the PRZM model is the less sensitive. The simulation results of pesticide transport, which ultimately consist in predicting the groundwater contamination, are very sensitive to the variations of some physical parameters for which the precision and the representativeness in the measured values are thus very important for the reliability of the results. Considering the spatial variability of a site characteristics, the representativeness of these results is very uncertain if a limited number of data is used in order to determine the mean value. A particular attention has to be focused on the parameters that induce the higher sensitivity of the model. Finally, such a sensitivity analysis shows that a stochastic approach in modelling the solute transport through soil can be a good alternative to take into account the variability of parameters encountered in field situations

La modélisation hydrologique et la gestion de l'eau

Cet article brosse un portrait de différents types de modélisation hydrologique développés à ce jour. Nous passerons donc en revue l'hydrologie, à l'érosion hydrique des sols, au transport et aux transformations des polluants et à la qualité de l'eau en rivière. Ce bref survol, nous amène à conclure que si le développement de la modélisation hydrologique s'est fait jusqu'ici essentiellement en affinant la description des processus et en considérant des échelles spatiales et temporelles plus fines, l'étape suivante passe par l'intégration de ces divers modèles. Cette intégration permettra dès lors de considérer un ensemble de problématiques directement liées aux aspects de gestion environnementale.This paper presents an overview of physically-based hydrological modeling approaches and a look at the future of hydrological modeling within the context of water management. It extends beyond classical hydrological modeling by surveying the modeling of water contaminants transport in porous media and surface waters, as well as soil erosion.Increasing concerns in predicting the impacts of land use management on the hydrological cycle have led researchers to construct two types of physically-based distributed models. The first type of model views the watershed as an ensemble of inter-connected reservoirs and mimics water routing with various types of discharge expressions and conceptual models (e.g., the infiltration models of Green and Ampt (1911), Holtan (1961) or Smith and Parlange (1978); the unit hydrographs of Sherman (1932) and Dooge (1973) and the geomorphological unit hydrograph of Rodriguez-Iturbe and Valdes (1979); the ground water discharge model of Beven and Kirby (1979); etc...). It is noteworthy that the pioneering Stanford Watershed Model of Crawford and Linsley (1966) led to the development of many currently used hydrological models including HBV (Bergstršm and Forsman, 1973), SLURP (Kite, 1978), TOPMODEL ( Beven and Kirby, 1979) and CEQUEAU (Morin et al., 1981), to name a few. The second type of model discretizes the watershed into an ensemble of control volumes and mimics water routing using combinations of partial differential equations for mass and momentum conservation and phenomenological models (e.g., Darcy's (1856), Dupuit's (1863), Boussinesq's (1904) and Richards (1931) equations for unsaturated and saturated flow in porous media; Saint-Venant's (1871) and Manning's (1891) equations for overland and open channel flows). Hydrological models such as SHE (Abbott et al.,1986a, b), IHDM (Calver, 1988), KINEROS (Woolhiser et al., 1990), THALES (Grayson et al.,1992) and HYDROTEL (Fortin et al., 1995), among others, represent classical examples of this type of modeling. It is noteworthy that recent advances in remote sensing and in digital elevation modeling have greatly facilitated and simplified the use of most of the hydrological models.On another front, the adverse effects of agricultural, industrial and urban runoff on surface and ground waters have motivated the development and application of different approaches to predict the fate and transport of various water contaminants in the environment (i.e., eroded soil particles, adsorbed and dissolved nutrients and pesticides as well organic matter).In soil erosion modeling, these concerns have led researchers to construct nonpoint source pollution models for evaluating the impacts of alternative land management practices on water quality. Based on the empirical Universal Soil Loss Equation (Wischmeier and Smith, 1978), the first nonpoint source models included CREAMS (Knisel et al., 1980), AGNPS (Young et al., 1987) and SWRRB (Williams et al., 1985). However, the lack of physical realism in these empirical formulations prompted the development of physically-based erosion models such as GUEST (Rose et al., 1983; Hairshine and Rose, 1992a, b), WEPP (Nearing et al., 1989), LISEM (De Roo et al., 1994) and EUROSEM (Morgan et al., 1992). The advantage of these models over the USLE resides in their ease of integration with physically-based hydrological models. Because of its close ties with the hydrological cycle and the soil erosion process (adsorbed and dissolved contaminants), the development of physically-based models for nutrient and pesticide transport benefited directly from advances in soil erosion modeling, soil chemistry and soil physics. The modeling of nitrogen transport is a representative example of this. Early modeling efforts involved the coupling of first-order kinetics models for the nitrogen cycle (Mehran and Tanji, 1974) with two types of mass conservation equation in porous media: the convection-dispersion equation and the capacity transport equation. Well known soil nitrogen dynamics models include NCSOIL (Molina et al., 1983), SOILN (Johnsson et al, 1987), EPIC (Sharpley and Williams, 1990), LEACHN and LEACHA (Hutson and Wagenet, 1991, 1992, 1993), DAISY (Hansen et al., 1991) and AgriFlux (Banton et al., 1993).The first attempt to model surface water quality goes back to the work of Streeter and Phelps (1925) who studied the impacts of a municipal waste water discharge on dissolved oxygen (DO) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) of an Ohio river. To predict DO and BOD dynamics, Streeter and Phelps assumed uniform and steady flow conditions and used first-order kinetics to model atmospheric supply of oxygen and oxygen consumption. The advances in computational power during the 70s and 80s allowed several researchers to substantially increase the complexity of the Streeter-Phelps approach. This was achieved by accounting for advection-dispersion phenomena, unsteady two and three dimensional flow conditions, as well as the effect of temperature on various chemical reactions. The QUAL2E model of Brown and Barnwell (1987) is a good example of a moderately complex water quality model where advection-dispersion and temperature effects on several water characteristics and contaminants are considered under one-dimensional steady flow conditions.At present, the state of hydrological modeling and software engineering has reached a point where it is now possible to construct spatial decision support systems (SDDS) capable of simulating the impacts of various management practices (i.e., industrial, municipal and agricultural) on the water quantity and the quality of a watershed's river network. These systems, which idealy should be user-friendly for decision makers, will be both integrated modeling systems (including a database system, hydrologic, soil erosion, agricultural-chemical transport and water quality models) and spatial data analysis systems (including a geographical information system). Currently developed SDDS include PÉGASE (Smitz et al., 1997) and GIBSI (Villeneuve et al., 1996, 1997a,b). In a sustainable water management context, the use of such systems will provide decision makers with a complete tool for exploring a variety of integrated watershed management programs