Dataset Direct Download Service (WFS): Watercourse quality objectives

Quality objectives remain the tool for evaluating actions taken to regain watercourse quality. They are used on a daily basis in all water-related files. The scheme will evolve in the near future, or has evolved, with the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. Since the law of 16 December 1964, a fundamental aspect of the regulation is to make discharge standards subject to the conditions of use of water but also to the capacity of self-purification and the biological balance of the receiving environment. In order to establish clear and accessible rules for all water stakeholders, the concept of the quality objective of the receiving environment has been developed. Example of Burgundy: — The circular of 17 March 1978 required the drawing up of quality objective maps in all departments. After consultation with all stakeholders, prefectural decrees indicated the situation of each section of the main watercourses (1980-1985) and the quality objective assigned to each. — In 1996, the development of the SDAGEs made it possible to redefine the objectives in the light of the new knowledge on the quality of rivers and the requirements of the 1992 Law. In Burgundy a few sectors have seen their objectives re-evaluated. — In 2003, quality objectives remain the benchmark for the development of discharge authorisations, even if they are mainly based on concentrations of organic and oxidable matter. However, the transposition of objective classes on the basis of the water-system quality classes allows a larger number of parameters to be taken into account. However, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive will quickly require a review of the scheme, as all environments now have to achieve good status by 2015. PLEASE NOTE: this mechanism no longer exists since the Water Framework Directive (WFD)