Environmental Risks Within Natural Areas;The Ill Riverʹs Flood Plain, Alsace, France – Water Quality And Flooding

The projectʹs case study area is that of the IllRiver flood plain between Colmar and Strasbourgon the central Alsace plain in northern France.This area has historically been a wetland forestand prairie grassland region and has been homeand resting site to much bird wildlife. Sudden snow meltsand intense precipitation in the adjacentVosges can still cause widespreadflooding. In recent times the ploughingin of much of the prairies and intensivemaize production has led to adestabilised biotope. Therefore, the closeto surface water table is under threatfrom the infiltration of agriculturalpesticides and fertilisers and the baresoils in winter are open to erosion. This wetland has been inscribed inEU circulars under the protection ofwetland areas (79/409) and an officialflood zone has been defined. Prairiegrassland conservation policies havebeen implemented. Given the areaʹs ecological and agricultural importanceit has been the subject of many land-cover, soilmoisture and flood event studies at SERTIT usingoptical and radar remote sensing data(Clandillon et al., 1993; 1995; De Fraipont et al., 1994;Fellah et al., 1995; Fellah and Tholey et al., 1996;SERTIT, 1990; Tholey et al., 1997; Yésou et al., 1995).