Temps et espaces de la gestion de l’eau : perspectives critiques/Across Time and Space: Critical Perspectives on Water Resources Management

This volume presents an analysis of the ways in which hydraulic developments have both generated major environmental disturbances and contributed to the development of risk prevention policies from the late nineteenth century to the present day. While centered on the concepts and methods of environmental history, the collection includes a contribution from the science of hydrology. Both the availability and the quality of water are at the heart of the questions raised in different environmental, political and social contexts. Examples from the United States are presented in the foreword by Marie Bolton focusing on California and in two articles, one on California (Glen Gendzel) and the other on New York State (Roy Carpenter). The role of the United States in constructing massive water management systems that have led to what some call the “hydraulic trap” is in contrast to the increased environmental awareness expressed in court cases such as the landmark Scenic Hudson v. Federal Power Commission (1965) or the passage of environmental protection legislation. Other examples are analyzed from around the world, providing a comparative approach: pollution resulting from the operation of the Ashio mine in Japan between the end of the nineteenth century and the 1960s (Cyrian Pitteloud); implementation of a systematic water management policy at the watershed level in France dating from 1964 (Stéphane Frioux); and, problems stemming from wastewater management in the Soviet Union from the 1960s and 1980s (Laurent Coumel). Efforts both to improve water quality protection and reduce hydrological risk were at the heart of new environmental policies developed during the 1960s and 1970s that, as the articles in this volume examine, led not only to challenges to change but occasional failures. The hydrological analysis of the Cauvery River watershed located in the southeastern Indian peninsula (Nils-Otto Kitterød) opens up current perspectives on social issues created by the exploitation of water resources and technical solutions proposed in a context of strong demographic pressure and climate change