ABSTRACT
National water policy in France can be thought of as being comprised of four elements: regulatory laws and decrees; legal interpretations, internal orientations, and prefectoral decrees relating to regulations; financial procedures; and the relationship between the national plan for socioeconomic development and water planning. The first source of national water policy is obviously a general law, such as the Law on Water of 1964. This process, which is fundamental, is purely internal to the administration and reflects the evolution of the national orientation. A second source of policy is comprised of the interpretations given to the laws and decrees, expressed through orientations given within the administration itself. The 1964 Law on Water calls for the satisfaction or reconciliation of the demands for water for: drinking; agriculture, industry, transport, and all human activities of general interest; biological life in water bodies, particularly fish life, as well as recreation and conservation of scenic areas; and conservation of water supplies.
