Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 103 Aquifer pollution risk factors (Zwahlen, editor-in-chief, 2004).
4 PROTECTION ZONES
In France, groundwater protection falls under two legal frameworks: that
of the National Parks, or that of drinking water catchments. No easements
can currently be applied to patrimonial groundwater resources.
Protection zones in France have four principal functions: to protect
the catchment system itself, to control potential sources of non-potability,
to control degradations in quality over time, and/or to control the risk of
accidental pollution.
Protection zones for catchment areas are nested zones in which human
activities are controlled, and therefore regulated. The general principle is
to decrease constraints as a function of distance from the catchment point,
but the distance is in transit time and not in spatial length, which can result
in non-concentric zones.
There are three defi ned zones: immediate, close, and distant protection.
The area outside the zones is not supposed to infl uence the water quality at
the catchment, but only to cause acceptable risks. It is therefore generally
not useful to place an aquifer's entire catchment basin in a distant protection
zone.
The emplacement of protection zones can be useful only if the expert
responsible for the fi le can draw on an in-depth understanding of the
resource being exploited. The mode of inflows to the catchment, in
particular, must be perfectly understood in order to zone the zones wisely
(Figure 104).
Search WWH ::




Custom Search