Under the Water Framework Directive, France needs to work harder to reduce water pollution and has been recommended a more frequent recourse to ecological restoration. Constructed wetlands are particularly interesting as they simultaneously improve water quality, contribute to flood protection and promote biodiversity. In this perspective, the researchers of Lyonnaise des Eaux developed the concept of “Libellule” Zone that aimed at creating a biodiversity area that facilitates the removal of residual micro pollutants from wastewater before it is released into the wild. These actions are clearly beneficial to the environment. Unfortunately, this value remains difficult to estimate even today which can constitute a significant obstacle both to the development of this type of action and to their durability. Our aim is to use the “adapted” Habitat Evaluation Procedure (HEPa) to better value these actions. The HEPa bases the evaluation of environmental costs and benefits directly on the ecological impact of the actions carried out. Our main result is that the HEPa method, initially developed to assess environmental costs, can be a useful method to evaluate the benefits stemming from the creation of an artificial wetland. We expect this evaluation to help decision makers to base their decisions on the true value of wetlands.

根据水框架指令，法国需要更加努力地减少水污染，并被建议更频繁地求助于生态恢复。人工湿地特别有趣，因为它们可以同时改善水质、有助于防洪和促进生物多样性。从这个角度来看，Lyonnaise des Eaux的研究人员开发了“Libellule”区的概念，旨在创建一个生物多样性区域，在废水被释放到野外之前，促进从废水中去除残留的微污染物。这些行动显然对环境有益。不幸的是，即使在今天，这个值仍然难以估计，这可能对此类行动的发展及其持久性构成重大障碍。我们的目标是使用“适应的”栖息地评估程序 (HEPa) 来更好地评估这些行动。HEPa 直接根据所采取行动的生态影响来评估环境成本和收益。我们的主要结果是，最初为评估环境成本而开发的 HEPa 方法可以成为评估人工湿地创造收益的有用方法。