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Because of an important increase of irrigated area since the 70s, Charente river basin face important imbalance between the available water resources that is very sensible to climatic variability and uses. Favoured by the 1992 French water act, rending the metering progressively obligatory and that recommend dialogue among water actors, a volumetric management mechanism has progressively been implemented, especially in the upstream Charente river basin since the Mas Chaban dam creation that allow to resupply the river. This article presents the volumetric based management instruments implemented in this basin, discusses its effectiveness and propose an alternative management system based on an optional water pricing and on a new water consumption declaration system. We then highlight that this demand management instrument, for a comparable effectiveness, is less costly than the regulatory measures already adopted by river basin authorities and the farmers preferred measure that consist in creating new resources.

Because of an important increase of irrigated area since the 70s, Charente river basin face important imbalance between the available water resources that is very sensible to climatic variability and uses. Favoured by the 1992?French water act, rending the metering progressively obligatory and that recommend dialogue among water actors, a volumetric management mechanism has progressively been implemented, especially in the upstream Charente river basin since the Mas Chaban dam creation that allow to resupply the river. This article presents the volumetric based management instruments implemented in this basin, discusses its effectiveness and propose an alternative management system based on an optional water pricing and on a new water consumption declaration system. We then highlight that this demand management instrument, for a comparable effectiveness, is less costly than the regulatory measures already adopted by river basin authorities and the farmers preferred measure that consist in creating new resources.

Because of an important increase of irrigated area since the 70s, Charente river basin face important imbalance between the available water resources that is very sensible to climatic variability and uses. Favoured by the 1992 French water act, rending the metering progressively obligatory and that recommend dialogue among water actors, a volumetric management mechanism has progressively been implemented, especially in the upstream Charente river basin since the Mas Chaban dam creation that allow to resupply the river. This article presents the volumetric based management instruments implemented in this basin, discusses its effectiveness and propose an alternative management system based on an optional water pricing and on a new water consumption declaration system. We then highlight that this demand management instrument, for a comparable effectiveness, is less costly than the regulatory measures already adopted by river basin authorities and the farmers preferred measure that consist in creating new resources.

In France, the sharp increase of drinking water price observed during the 90's has lead a number of households to use raw water as a substitute for drinking water to satisfy part of their water need. Raw water sources include individual tube-wells, rainwater recovery systems or collective agricultural water delivery systems. This paper presents the consequences of such behaviour on the management of water utilities. A simple economic model representing households behaviour is proposed and used to highlight that water pricing can be used to regulate raw water use. The model is then applied to a southern France municipality.

In spite of abundant reserves in France, imbalances between water needs and resources, conflicts between different categories of users are likely to appear during low river flow periods. In these situations, as water becomes a scarce resource, it can not be considered any longer as a free good but as an economic good. In a context of a limited water resource, community tries to induce, farmers to minimise their water consumption by developing and implementing economic instruments such as water markets, rationing procedures (quota) or appropriate water pricing. However, market mechanisms can not function efficiently without an appropriate legislative framework. In France, the laws of 1964 and 1962 and the European regulation define the principles of water management. The water law of 1992 insists on the uniqueness of water resource, imposes measuring devices and defines negotiation areas. The implementation of this law renew the interest for incentive economic instruments, the conditions required for their implementation and their limitations. In France, water pricing and quota are implemented. These instruments are not incompatible and are likely to complement each other. One manager (Compagnie du Bas-Rh?ne-Languedoc) particularly takes into account water demand, another (Compagnie d'Am?nagement des Coteaux de Gascogne) applies a system combining quota and water pricing, the last (Soci?t? du Canal de Provence) uses marginal cost pricing.

We used a participatory foresight method for assessing if, and how, groundwater markets could be incorporated into local groundwater management policies. We propose an institutional setup adapted to the French water policy context, with a cap and trade scenario introducing groundwater markets in the agricultural sector between now and the 2035 horizon. Considering the local hydrogeological characteristics, we applied this method to five French groundwater basins, and then analyzed the public perception of our scenario by organizing 16 half-day workshops, involving a total of 44 institutional stakeholders and 80 farmers. Overall, almost half of the participants were opposed to the introduction of groundwater markets for various ethical, economic and technical reasons. Many of the preconditions for water trading are still far from being met, and major social and economic risks are anticipated. However, our results also suggest that there might be scope for developing groundwater markets compatible with French water policy at a local scale; the preconditions for this are that specific local hydrogeological and agricultural situations are taken into account, and that a participatory process is developed, involving institutional stakeholders and farmers.