Public Management of Rivers : The Deliberative Test
Résumé
This chapter presents the context of the emergence of two water management projects in the Brevenne-Turdine and Buech watersheds, as well as the motivations and forms of the consultations undertaken. It highlights the memory and the singularly contrasting effects of these dialog processes on the territories 4-5 years after their conclusion, despite the initial similarity of the socio-ecological contexts, the deliberative procedures envisaged and the service provider leading the dialog. The chapter analyzes the relative deliberative autonomy of these territorial consultations, according to the framing provided by the technical expertise, the administrative and legal qualification of the project and the place given to the local scale and to the voices of local residents by the steering body. For the river syndicate and the public administrations, restoring upstream free expansion space for the river should make it possible to protect the downstream part of the watershed from erosion and flooding.