Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

S E I N E - N O R M A N D Y B A S I N , F R A N C E / 4 3 1Under the Pont Mirabeau the SeineFlows with our lovesMust I recall again?Joy always used to follow after pain.Guillaume ApollinaireIT WAS ONLY FORTY YEARS AGO that the Seine River was declared‘dead’. Levels of pollution from industry and agriculture weredangerously high. Native fish had disappeared, plant life wasdying, and the water was unsafe for swimming. Today, however, theriver and its surroundings have been rehabilitated. The city of Paris evenorganizes fishing contests on summer afternoons. This dramatic changebegan with the recognition in 1964 of six river basins as the naturalhydrographic units in France and the creation of six water agencies tomanage them accordingly. Problems remain, especially nitrate pollutionfrom fertilizers and the continuing disappearance of wetlands, but thecase study presented here shows that the application of moderntechnology, a sound tax base and political will on several levels can go along way towards reversing some of the neglect of the past.