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Due to the effects of global warming, water management has become more complex. Increased water scarcity creates rivalries between water users for the access and use of the resource. Since 1992, the French Government has elaborated the water management and development plans (Schéma d’aménagement et de gestion de l’eau, SAGE). In 2015, 179 SAGE were approved of which 108 have already been implemented. In line with the Water Framework Directive, these local plans developed an integrated and concerted water management that combines environmental protection with the human-induced water usages. They rely on a water basin authority which designs and implements the plan in a consensual way and encourages the definition of common goals between the local users. The aim of this communication is to question the actual role of the basin authority and asks whether it is central in the local water management. Alternatively, major stakeholders or public authorities may be the de facto decision-makers in the distribution of water uses. The communication relies on a case study conducted in the Thau basin in 2012. Drawing on social network analysis, a method used to visualize and describe social structures, it identifies the actors which occupy central positions and hold effective power. Specifically, the analysis looks at three measures of centrality linked to different forms of power: Degree centrality, closeness, and brokerage. As a result, the key actors of the SAGE, namely the Water Agency (AE-RMC), the local water agency (SMBT) and the users’ assembly (CLE), appear as the most powerful actors in the management of the river basin, which validates the shift in power introduced with integrated water management from territorial and central authorities to functional and more local managers.

Climate change exacerbates climate variability, and makes water governance more complex. The French local water management plans (SAGE) developed an integrated approach that relies on a balance between bottomup and top-down governance. The aim of this article is to question the actual role of the local basin authorities and ask whether they are central in water governance. The Social Network Analysis of the Thau basin shows that the key actors of the SAGE, namely the Rhone-Mediterranean-Corsica Water Agency, the localwater agency and the local water commission, are the most powerful actors in the management of the river basin and play a crucial brokerage role in climate change adaptation. Integrated water resource management shifted power from territorial and central authorities to functional and local managers.