Despite great expectations in the Seine River Basin, the WFD did not reduce diffuse pollution

Gabrielle Bouleau (), Rémi Barbier (), Marie-Pierre Halm-Lemeille (), Bruno Tassin (), Arnaud Buchs () and Florence Habets ()
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Gabrielle Bouleau: LISIS - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences, Innovations, Sociétés - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Université Gustave Eiffel
Rémi Barbier: ENGEES - École Nationale du Génie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement de Strasbourg
Marie-Pierre Halm-Lemeille: LERN - Laboratoire Environnement Ressources de Normandie - COAST - Unité Observation et écologie de la restauration des écosystèmes littoraux - IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer
Bruno Tassin: ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées, LEESU - Laboratoire Eau Environnement et Systèmes Urbains - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12
Arnaud Buchs: IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes
Florence Habets: LGENS - Laboratoire de géologie de l'ENS - INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Département des Géosciences - ENS-PSL - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres

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Abstract: European stakeholders engaged in combatting the eutrophication of the North Sea welcomed three Water Framework Directive innovations: a more holistic approach to quality, the binding nature of WFD objectives, and greater public participation. Twenty years later, however, there has been a disappointing amount of progress in the reduction of diffuse pollution. In the Seine River Basin, the amount of livestock rearing is low; yet the basin is subject to significant diffuse pollution due to agriculture. This paper reports our study of this case; we examine the literature on WFD implementation policy in order to identify the physical and social causes of this failure to reduce diffuse pollution. We show that the nitrates, phosphorus, and pesticides that affect ground, surface and marine waters are attributable to structural changes in agricultural production rather than to inefficient farming practices. We describe how a series of instruments that were designed to combat the diffuse agricultural origins of pollutants have had little effect. We identify the main obstacles to improvement as being the dispersion of the targeted public and the dispersion of benefits, given the current nature of legitimacy in the European Union. This case illustrates the fact that intensive agricultural production has an impact on water quality far beyond the problem of excess manure from livestock production.

Keywords: Seine River Basin; France; WFD; Intensive agriculture; Regulatory space; Output legitimacy; Policy implementation; Diffuse pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02957812v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Water alternatives, 2020, 13 (3), pp.534-555

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