Glossary

Regional actors:

The Agence de l’eau Seine Normandie coordinates for development of all water bodies, potable water and sanitation. The agency envisions the preparation and adoption of a Schéma Directeur d'Aménagement pour la Gestion de l'Eau (SDAGE). The agency is one of six in France, covering the départements of Seine, Yvelines, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine and Val-de-Marne as well as other départements in the Parisian region and in Normandy. http://www.eau-seine-normandie.fr/

The Conseil Régional d’Ile de France : The decentralisation law of 1982 created the Région, a collective territory of départements grouped according to their economic and cultural interest. Ninety-six départements are represented by 22 régions, with the Ile-de-France among them. The Conseil Régional is composed of a regional assembly, a cabinet and services as well as the regional administration organized in different directions and services. One direction concerns the environment, which supervises projects such the Bièvre’s restoration. http://www.iledefrance.fr/

The Institut d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme de la Région Ile-de-France (IAURIF): a public agency managing the entire Parisian agglomeration. It has an environmental scope, as it aims to promote sensible and sustainable urban growth within the region. La Vallée de la Bièvre, 2002, and Restauration et Aménagement de la Bièvre in Paris, 2003 www.iaurif.org

Local actors:

The mission of the Société Anonyme de Gestion des Eaux de Paris (SAGEP) is to produce and transport the potable water consumed daily by Parisians. www.sagep.fr/

The Atelier Parisian d’Urbanisme (APUR) was created in 1967 by the Paris Council. Its mission is to follow urban evolutions, to participate in the definition of development and its politics, the elaboration of urban politics and urbanism documents, as well as in the preparation of projects at the Paris scale. www.apur.org

The Communauté Agglomeration de Val de Bièvre (Val de Bièvre) regroups the communes of Arcueil Cachan, Fresnes, Gentilly, L'Haÿ-les-Roses, Le Kremelin-Bicêtre, and Villejuif. www.agglo-valdebievre.fr

The Syndicat d'Agglomération Nouvelle (SAN) regroups the communes of Elancourt, Guyancourt, La Verrière, Magny-les-Hameaux, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Trappes, and Voisins-le-Bretonneux. http://www.san-sqy.fr/san/fo/fr/home/home.asp

Syndicat intercommunal d'assainissement de la vallée de la Bièvre (SIAVB) was created in 1945 in response to resident concerns over the quality of the natural environment in the Bievre Valley and its vulnerability to Paris’s outward expansion. As a public agency monitoring nearly 20 kilometers of the Bièvre, it is involved in numerous projects concerning sanitation, recreation, and restoration along the stream. http://www.siavb.fr/

Syndicat intercommunal pour l'assainissement de l'agglomération parisienne (SIAAP) was officially created in 1970 by the city of Paris, a public agency supervising the city’s hydraulic and sewer system exists since the mid-nineteenth century. In 1970 SIAAP became the owner and manager of this entire system, which concerns Paris proper as well as portions of the surrounding départements. http://www.siaap.fr/

Syndicat mixte de la Bièvre: Created in 1999, this syndicate targets the Bièvre watershed, described as uniting all tributaries and all spaces whose slope converges with the Bièvre’s stream bed. It includes all actors, both passive and active, and exists to favor concertation and planning. One objective is to create a regional planning and development plan for water to orient development in the future. http://www.bievre.org/syndicatmixte/index.htm

 Administrative division of land into Départements & Communes Yvelines : Guyancourt, Buc, les-Loges-en-Josas, Jouy-en-Josas, Saint-Quentin en Yvelines
Essonne : Bièvres, Igny, Verrières le Buisson, Massy
Hauts de Seine : Antony, Bourg-la-Reine
Val-de-Marne : Fresnes, Arcueil, Cachan, l’Hay-les-Roses, Gentilly
Seine : Paris’s 5th and 13th arrondissements  

Terms

bief: Portion of canal or stream in which the hydraulic conditions remain uniform. Reach.

commune: Smallest local administrative division of territory, the commune is administered by a municipal council. Equivalent of American municipality.

concertation: Action consisting of association under form of contacts and consultations of social partners and syndicates for the elaboration of economic and social measures, often before parliamentary debates.

decantation: The action of pouring off (the clear liquid of a solution) by gently inclining the vessel so as not to disturb the lees or sediment; esp. in Chem. as a means of separating a liquid from a precipitate.

département: Principal subdivision of executive, federal and cantonal power corresponding to the ministry. Equivalent of American county.

dépollution: site clean-up

detention basin: A basin, usually surrounded by a dike or levee, which holds storm water runoff until the receiving waters are low enough for the contained water to be discharged.

macrophyte: A (usually aquatic) plant visible to the naked eye. PLU: The Plan Local d’Urbanisme is in the process of being adopted by the city of Paris. It will fix urban planning guidelines for the next 20 years, including new construction, existing buildings, space occupation, preservation and patrimony.

retention basin: A pond to hold stormwater and filter out sediment. Its purpose is to retain stormwater runoff and to remove the majority of the sediment through settling, or decantation.