Hydroguard: Autonomous and automated system for monitoring, management of coastal risks and water resources

The HYDROGUARD project is being developed with a view to the efficient and rational management of means of preventing and combating flooding, pollution, and marine submergence. The first targeted regions are Languedoc-Roussillon and PACA. The project aims at developing autonomous technologies and equipment to be put in place across the territory (storm basins, streams, outputs from wastewater treatment plants, hydraulic structures, lagoons and shoreline...) in order to contribute to the monitoring and ongoing management of coastal and surface water bodies and territories, especially during crisis situations (flooding, accidental pollution, marine submergence). Topics taken into consideration in the framework of the HYDROGUARD project keep the focus on present concerns about risk management. The overall system, consisting of especially developed buoys embedding a brand-new reliable Decision Support System and high-speed telecommunicating facilities, can be static - located in sensitive areas - or dynamic - deployed over operational areas in the case of an alert. In case of an alarm, the proposed mechanism is the optimal tool for anticipating actions, contributing to decision-making, and guiding relief measures by means of the range of information acquired through the detectors / sensors. Once the alert is over, the system returns to relaying relevant information to State services, communities, individuals, managers of industrial sites and delegated services. The originality of the system lies in its decentralization, proximity, redundancy and interoperability with other existing systems. This project is directly linked to the recommendations of the French Ministry of Environment, Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea (MEEDM), regarding knowledge, prevention, prediction and early warning; and the Water Framework Directive, for which it is necessary to develop suitable devices, in particular with regard to monitoring, improving the chemical status of water bodies, and maintaining quality resources. Finally, an evaluation of the benefits of such a system will be assessed, by means of economic Costs-Benefit Analysis (CBA). The actual project team is multi-disciplinary. The end-users targeted by the system are municipalities and local authorities, ports, firefighters and other safety personnel, as well as engineers or industrialists in the framework of their missions of prevention, protection, fighting against floods, and management of water resources.