Résumé
Since the late seventies, the securing of « water Intended for human consumption » (water IHC) has gradually become a public issue linking three dimensions: quantity, quality and networks. Given the limits of local management, the department has gradually become a relevant spatial level for coordination, financing and regulation. Building on a rather tenuous institutional basis, General Councils have developed genuine water IHC policies. They appear as key players in coalitions that drive the program to secure water IHC and the hydro-territorial rationalisation that forms its keystone. The national survey of water IHC policies conducted by General Councils in the framework of Aquadep project confirms their involvement and highlights their different modes of action. Two case studies illustrate in greater detail two ways of setting up federal governance for water IHC. This appears to be an acceptable compromise, at least temporarily, between two imperatives: that of “proximity” in drinking water distribution, and that of rationalisation to secure production. They also underline the variety of possible positions of General Councils, ranging between impetus / withdrawal / transfer and impetus / involvement.