The social dimensions of a river's environmental quality assessment

Abstract

Integrated water resources management, promoted in developed countries, obliges to integrate social aspects with hydrological and ecological dimensions when assessing river quality. To better understand these social aspects, we propose a mixed-method to study public perceptions of an impounded river. Since the 1930s, the management of the Ain river (France) has been challenged by conflicts about the river's quality. We surveyed (using interviews and mental maps) various stakeholders along the river. The results based on textual and content analysis show variations in the public's perceptions according to the residence area, practices, and the degree of emotional attachment to the river. The assessment of environmental quality needs to take into account different types of knowledge, sometimes conflicting, that reveal and shape the variety of waterscapes which compose the Ain River. The social dimensions highlight integrated water management's inherent complexity by considering the river basin as a place to live and by involving multiple stakeholders.

Keywords: Environmental quality; Indicators; Mental maps; Public perceptions; Stakeholders; Waterscape.

Fig. 1

a The blank map used for the mental maps survey. b The Ain River, as mapped by an angler (upstream). It shows the source, Les Pertes de l’Ain waterfalls, an oak tree on a gravel bed where the angler’s family likes to have a picnic, the town of Pont du Navoy, and the Vouglans dam. c The Ain River, as mapped by a river manager (downstream). It shows the source, the Malvaux canyon and the Langouette and Billaude waterfalls, the Pertes de l’Ain waterfalls, the Jura Lakes area, the Saut de la Saisse waterfalls. The dammed section of the river is shown as a damaged place but also as a nice place to visit. The rest of the riverbed and the downstream floodplain are drawn as places that should be protected

Fig. 2

What signs do you rely on to assess the Ain River’s quality? Content analysis

Fig. 3

a Characteristic elements of the water managers’ discourses. b Characteristic elements of the residents’ discourses. c Characteristic elements of the anglers’ discourses

Fig. 4

a Places drawn on the mental maps by respondents living/working upstream. b Places drawn on the mental maps by respondents living/working around Lake Vouglans. c Places drawn on the mental maps by respondents living/working downstream

Fig. 4

a Places drawn on the mental maps by respondents living/working upstream. b Places drawn on the mental maps by respondents living/working around Lake Vouglans. c Places drawn on the mental maps by respondents living/working downstream