Quality standards and monitoring as water management tools: the case of nitrogen in rivers in France and Brittany

Water quality standards (QS) and river monitoring are widely accepted as preventive management strategies for the preservation of watercourses and at the same time they are criticized for imposing universal threshold values, leading to regulatory rather than voluntary action. Based on the example of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water policy 2018-10, Vol.20 (5), p.1059-1074
Main Authors: Carré, Catherine, Boccarossa, Alexandra, Hellier, Emmanuelle, Dupont, Nadia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Drinking water
Environmental monitoring
Environmental policy
Environmental quality
Eutrophication
Geography
Humanities and Social Sciences
Interest groups
Laboratories
Management tools
Monitoring
Negotiations
Nitrates
Pollutants
Pollution
Preservation
Prevention programs
Quality standards
Regional development
Regional planning
Rivers
Values
Water management
Water quality
Water quality standards
Water resources management
Watercourses
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Water quality standards (QS) and river monitoring are widely accepted as preventive management strategies for the preservation of watercourses and at the same time they are criticized for imposing universal threshold values, leading to regulatory rather than voluntary action. Based on the example of nitrate, the article explains how QS applications are the result of national or regional negotiations, with no direct link to the scientific foundations underlying the development of these tools. These conflicting perceptions and how these tools are actually used are illustrated by the situation in Brittany. Here, the monitoring network and actions to prevent increasing nitrate concentrations in rivers form part of regional programs set up jointly by all the main stakeholders. However, while QS can act as an alarm signal, their effectiveness depends on local political support, which depends on the extent to which river quality is recognized as a key factor in regional development.
ISSN:1366-7017
1996-9759
DOI:10.2166/wp.2018.154