On the Creuse river, inspections on hydroelectric installations resulted in citations and numerous injunctions ordering owners to ensure ecological continuity.
Home - Mission - A Four Part Strategy
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Policing activities, a major factor in achieving good water status
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Closer contacts between environmental police - An experiment in 13 French departments
To optimise the effectiveness of environmental police, the State is creating closer ties between the policing activities of Onema, ONCFS (national agency for hunting and wildlife) and DDEA (departmental public-works and agriculture agencies). -
How can aquatic environments be protected from damage?
Onema works with
local State services by providing science advice and technical opinions, and by running a number
of inspections in the
field... -
Verbatim
Philippe Vachet, Head of the Ille-et-Vilaine office
Philippe Vachet talks about the effectiveness of an evaluation and inspection operation linked with information efforts to stop the use of phytosanitary products along rivers.
Protect aquatic environments by inspecting use and enforcing regulations
An advisory role in support of the administrative police
Onema provides State services with technical opinions on requests for use and authorisations in the framework of water-policing activities. These opinions deal generally with the status of the environment, the potential impact of projects and the value of the proposed corrective or compensatory measures. Onema also assists the water police in identifying rivers, wetlands and spawning zones, and in recreating ecological continuity in rivers.
Enforcement activity
For surface waters, rivers and wetlands, agency personnel carry out inspections in the field to enforce regulations on usage of water and aquatic environments. Onema focuses on the most sensitive environments and on the priority issues targeted by the Water framework directive. Under the authority of State prosecutors, it signals any offences and assists the prosecutors in bringing cases to court. In the event of negotiations between the administrative authorities and the offender, Onema assists the administration in evaluating any damage caused to the environment and the necessary corrective measures.