Biological reservoirs (fluents) SDAGE 2016-2021 in the Rhine-Meuse basin

Article L.214-17 of the Environmental Code defines as a biological reservoir a list of rivers, parts of watercourses or canals among those which are in very good ecological status or identified by the Management and Water Management Plans (SDAGE) as being a biological reservoir necessary to maintain or achieve the good ecological status of the watercourses of a watershed or in which a complete protection of migratory fish living alternately in freshwater and salt water is necessary, over which no authorisation or concession may be granted for the construction of new structures if they constitute an obstacle to ecological continuity. Article R.214-108 of the Environmental Code adds that biological reservoirs are those that include one or more breeding areas or habitats of the species identified in Annex V to the WFD as quality elements for the definition of good ecological status (phytoplanktons, macrophytes and phytobenthos, invertebrate benthic fauna or ichtyofaune), and allow their distribution in one or more watercourses in the watershed. A biological reservoir can be: — an elementary section of watercourses, or an aggregation of elementary sections, — a body of water within the meaning of the WFD. Maps and lists of biological reservoirs, without tributaries, are contained in the maps of the SDAGE: — Rhine District: cards 23 and 24, — Meuse and Sambre District: map No. 13.