20 Year’s of the Water Management Office: – but the politics in field of «water » still need to mature !!

The Water Management Office (Administration de la gestion de l’eau – AGE) is celebrating its 20th anniversary, among other things with a new logo.

The creation of such an office was a long-standing demand of the Mouvement Ecologique; it was undoubtedly absolutely necessary in view of the challenges in water management. It is also important that the office – after a small but nevertheless problematic stopover at the Ministry of the Interior – is now located in the Ministry of the Environment.

The Water Management Office is a permanent fixture in the organization of our country. It is hard to imagine that there were times when this administration did not exist. The adoption of a water management law, the creation of water management plans, the monitoring of drinking water and surface water, the expansion of sewage treatment plants, the support in the designation of drinking water protection areas, and much more are important topics that the administration deals with.

But the fact is that the situation in the water management sector is far from ideal at the moment and the influence of the Water Management Office is still far too small. The deficits in the water management sector are still considerable. This is not primarily due to the people in charge at the office, but to structural problems.

The 20th anniversary of the office should therefore be used as an opportunity to take stock of the reforms that need to be carried out to ensure that the agency really comes of age and that the necessary protection of water, a valuable resource, is provided.

The anniversary of the Water Management Office and an analysis of what has been achieved (or not) should be taken as an opportunity to initiate fundamental reforms at the level of water management, so that the goals set in the field of water management can be achieved. Otherwise, the management plans will continue to be toothless tigers to a large extent and will come to nothing. It is in the interest of the rivers, streams, the protection of our drinking water sources, biodiversity and us humans.

The attached file contains a detailed analysis of the current situation and specific proposals for what needs to be done to improve it.

A year ago, the “Action Group” of the Mouvement Ecologique took a slightly different look at the topic of water on World Water Day:

20.06.2024