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Research & development
activities in French overseas departments
ONEMA’s actions relative to water
and aquatic environment
Dr Patrick Flammarion
Research & Expertise Director
ONEMA
15th March, 2012, Adapt water
management to the specificities of
the outermost regions
A global view on ONEMA’s R&D actions
Since 2008, ONEMA has financially supported the following fields (about 1,5 M€ a year) :
Water resource management, with special focus on
global change effects (partnership BRGM)
Adaptation of waste water treatment technologies to the
tropical climate (partnership CEMAGREF/Irstea)
Better knowledge on surface and ground water
pollution and ecotoxicology (partnership BRGM,
CEMAGREF, IFREMER, INERIS)
Methods for the Water Framework Directive :
bio-indicators, hydro-morphological survey
(partnership CEMAGREF/Irstea, IFREMER, MNHN)
Water resource management
In overseas departments, and notably tropical islands, we must face up the increase of
human pressure on underground water resources (concentration of populations on the
coastal region, increase of the population), in the context of climate change
ONEMA’s subsidies have been dedicated to :
where needed, a better knowledge of the existing ground
water resources :
> La Réunion island : development of a method for spatial
quantification
> Mayotte island : characterization of the hydro-geological
potential
studies on coastal aquifer’s vulnerability to climate change
(Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Réunion islands)
Wastewater treatments
The aim of this work is to adapt existing technologies based on vegetated beds (reeds)
to the tropical context with local plants :
domestic and distilleries effluents
sewage sludges and septages
The programme includes :
on-site experiments, necessary to propose locally adapted and efficient technologies : 3 sites
in Martinique, 2 in Guadeloupe, 1 in La Réunion (1 site has to be chosen in 2012 in the French
Guyana)
technical guidelines (2011)
professional training
Water Frame Work Directive implementation
Methodologies must be developed for the assessment of the ecological status of
surface water bodies and the identification of pressures and impacts
Particular environments need specific adaptations :
coral reefs
coastal and transitional waters of French Guyana
Biological indicators at the end of 2013 :
Validated for rivers (micro-phytobenthos, benthic invertebrates, fish)
Under development for coastal waters (phytoplankton, endofauna, coral reef communities,
angiosperms)
Development of a bio-indicator : invertebrates and
rivers ecological quality in French Guyana
GMMi&SMEG
1.6
Steps :
Median
25%-75%
Min-Max
1.4
Definition of pressures gradients along rivers
1.2 sensitive to pressures
Selection of invertebrate metrics
GMMi&SMEG
Combination of the metrics in 1.0
a multi-metric index (Guyana Aquatic Invertebrate index—
GAINi)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Reference
NO
pressure
GoldGold
Mining
urban
Urban
Mining Main pressure
pressure
pressure
diffuse
Diffuse
pressure
Industry
Industry
pressure
Variability of the multi-metric Index in relation with
various categories of pressures (Buffagni et al. 2011)
Implementation of the WFD and R&D
programmes : resources and priorities
Human and financial resources are more important in La Reunion and Martinique
islands, territories where most of the R&D should be made
There is a need to strongly prioritize the efforts in French Guyana for WFD : between
categories/types of water bodies and quality elements on which the financial and
human resources should be concentrated
There is a general need to strengthen
the coordination and mutualisation
of studies and R&D programmes,
in order to fulfil the WFD objectives
MERCI / THANK YOU
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