Régis THEPOT Chief Executive Officer of Etablissement Public Loire

Régis THEPOT Chief Executive Officer of Etablissement Public Loire

3rd Yangtze Forum – Shanghai – April 2009

Integrated River Basin Management of the Loire river

From conflict to stakeholder involvement

Loire river basin

Etablissement public Loire

The Plan Loire grandeur nature. From conflict to skakeholder involvement


Area: 100.000 km²

Length : 1.000 km

Very irregular flow


Upper part of the basin


The Middle LoireAmboise

Angers

Orléans

Nevers

3rd Yangtze Forum – April 2009

Nuclear plant

Levees, breaches and spillways in in the middle Loire


2003’s flood (middle Loire) 1949’s draught


Downstream Loire


. 6 Regions

. 16 Departments

. 18 Cities

Etablissement Public LoireA Public Institution gathering local communities

at the river basin level


A tool for solidarity and subsidiarity at river basin level

Area of competence

Operating two dams Naussac and Villerest

Role of EP Loire

Flood prevention

Water ressources management

Water

Local development


Dams of Villerest and Naussac


Plan Loire grandeur nature From conflict to stakeholder involvement

Description of the Plan

Presentation of 3 examples in the flood prevention field


Plan Loire grandeur nature 1994 - 2006

3 main contractors

Initialy a top-down approach

Was decided by the governement in 1994 after fierce ecological conflicts concerning the construction of dams

Duration : initially 10 years prolonged to 12

310 M€ / 3 billion RMB


Serre de la Fare

Main Objectives

- integrated management of the Loire river basin - a joint approach associating involved actors and scientific assessment

Plan Loire 2007-2013

A top-down and bottom up approach

Based on the EU WFD and the Aarhus convention :

- global assessment of Plan Loire 1994-2006

- consultation in 2006 of the stakeholders in order to elaborate a strategic document defining shared stakes

- organization of regional and thematic meetings on the whole Loire basin

- dedicated website forum


Global budget 2007-2013 :

400 M€ / 4 billions RMB


Safety of population facing flood risks

Managing water resources

Restoring natural aquatic ecosystem and wetlands

Enhancing the Loire valley heritage

Developing research and data exchanges

5 key fields of action in 2007-2013


Flood prevention- Risk mapping

- Monitoring of the expansion of urban areas in floodplains

- Reinforcing the means for warning systems

- Evacuation plans

- Development measures – Mitigation policy


3 examples in the flood prevention field illustrating the stakeholder

involvement• At the river basin scale, an « industrial »

approach aimed at reducing the vulnerabilty to flooding for the economic activities

- In the middle Loire Joint planning approach

- Testing a flood risk management plan

Example 1 : An « industrial » approach aimed at reducing the

vulnerabity to flooding

In the middle Loire 15.000 companies are in flood prone areas, and within 2013 :

• 3000 companies will have carried out an assessment of their vulnerability and taken actions to reduce it

• 900 companies, sectors and activity zones will have implemented effective and urgent measures to reduce their vulnerability

Middle Loire risk assessment

• 240 towns and villages• 300.000 inhabitants• 115.000 accomodations• 15.000 companies• 72.000 employments• 87.000 ha for agriculture

Estimated damages:

10 billion € (100 billion RNB)

Damages breakdown

Compagnies (65%)

Accomodations (27%)

Agriculture (7%)

Equipments (1%)

Roads (1%)

Flooding similar to the major desasters of the 19 th century (1846,1856, 1866)would threaten :


Middle Loire flood prevention strategy

Designed in 1999

Based on a three-pronged approach, being implemented parallel :

Telemetry network

Prediction Prevention Protection

Spillway www.osiris-inondation.fr


Example 2 : Joint Planning approach

in middle Loire• A product of Dutch, French and German on the European project «Freude am Fluss » lead partner Radboud University Nijmegen

• 6 steps : mutual learning ; shared visioning ; rules and institutions ; exploring joint options ; joint design ; implementation

• Method now used by the governement and EP Loire to implement the flood prevention strategy

Example 3 : Testing a flood risk management plan

• A new EU directive on evaluating and managing flood risks (October 2007)

• A test area for the french Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning and EP Loire

www.eptb-loire.frwww.plan-loire.fr


To get more information

Conclusions

• Plan Loire Grandeur : born out of a conflict about dam construction

• 15 years later in many fields an example of stakeholder involvement

• The sustainable development of a river basin is not Utopia

See you soon along the Loire river !

Régis THEPOT Chief Executive Officer of Etablissement Public Loire

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