Theme 5 : Environmental and coastal management

Given that water quality norms imposed by new regulations governing shellfish farming and bathing waters (EC Regulation n° 854/2004 and 2006/7/EC) are more stringent than in previous directives, there is concern that this will mean an increase in instances of non-compliance, declassification and temporary or permanent closure of related zones.

In addition, to minimise as far as possible the risks posed to bathers, the new, bathing water quality directive, which has to be applied before 2015, also obliges communities to set out ‘bathing water vulnerability profiles’ for bathing sites. Such profiles require the surveying and grading of potential sources of pollution. While faecal matter is one of today’s most closely monitored forms of pollution, testing labs have no means of determining the faecal origin of such water pollution.

MARQUOPOLEAU aims to market measuring and diagnostic tools, not only for identifying the human or animal origin of faecal water pollution, but also the type of animal involved. By combining molecular biology and chromatography techniques, it is possible to arrive at a more rapid and detailed pollution profile than current analysis by culture techniques allows.

The rapid and effective testing tools, developed as part of the MARQUPOLEAU project, will ultimately be applicable to all types of water and available for all private and public water quality testing labs to deploy at a competitive market price.
The project involves 10 partners – scientific research teams, private water quality testing labs, water board, local authority and DDASS.

MARQUOPOLEAU project partners

Companies

• Littoralis Plouzané is a group of companies specialising in environmental consultancy and engineering

• IPL Santé Environnement Durable, Ploemeur and Maxéville, a subsidiary of the Institut Pasteur, has laboratories with expertise in sustainability in the fields of public health and the environment: drinking and bathing water quality inspections, monitoring of waste water from public and industrial treatment plants, and health and safety inspections of water supplies, recreational water, mineral and spa waters.

Research centres

• EMP Microbiology Lab of Ifremer Brest specialises in the study of bacteria and viruses occurring in shellfish and coastal waters and potentially harmful to humans, environmental studies of the root causes of contamination, and the evolution and persistence of such microorganisms in the sea

• CEMAGREF Rennes specialises in researching biological products and waste processing technologies

• CNRS Géoscience Rennes is a consultancy working on geological processes on continental margins at a range of temporal and spatial scales

• University of Angers environmental studies lab examines man-made systems

Local authorities and government department

• Brest Métropole Océane, Urban Community Council. In its role as a local authority involved in identifying the origin of faecal contamination of bathing or shellfish farming waters, BMO will enable the project to produce tools adapted and perfected to the needs of end-users, the majority of whom will be local community or inter-community departments

• Agence de l’eau Loire-Bretagne is a public body responsible for water and the water catchment environment

• DDASS 29 (Direction Départementale des Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales du Finistère – Finistère Health and Social Affairs Directorate) is a decentralised department of the ministry for public health with particular responsibility for statutory inspections of water and shellfish quality

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