The participation for the protection of water in Brittany: what place for what “territories” ?

Water quality is a main issue in Brittany, with nitrogen pollution and pesticides residues. Despite of the improvement insome of these chemical settings, the European water framework in 2000 has strengthened the target of ecological good status.The associative mobilizations since 1960’s included the social territories in the struggle for water quality, based on concreteprojects and counter expertise; today, they promote participation through their territorial organization and the citizen supportas part of public debate. In recent years, the regional authority developed a participation device to support the WaterStrategy; we assess it as an interesting experience to associate many actors but an unfinished process regarding the definitionof participation. Furthermore, the current process can draft social actors, which territorial dimension is not obvious.

Keywords: water quality, Brittany, environmental associations, regional authority, public debate.