EPTB Charente

The EPTB is a territorial institution in charge of the development of the river Charente and its affluents. It was created in 1977, and has the status of a public territorial basin establishment (EPTB). It is an interregional structure that gathers the four counties of the region of Poitou Charentes. Counsellors from Charente, Charente Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne administer the establishment. The team is composed with Didier Louis (president) Christophe Dourthe (1er Vice-Président), Yves Gargouil (2° Vice-Président), Jean Claude Godineau (3° Vice-Président), Yves Gargouil (Secrétaire). The field of the EPTB is not only the river Charente and its affluents, but also the whole territory (the basin) that this river watered. The work and the actions of the institutions are bound to the administration of water on the river basin: prevention of floods, management of the lack of water in summer time, of the environment, and tourist valorisation of the river as well.
Its status and its experience allow the EPTB to coordinate projects committing the different counties, and organize the consultation between the different actors. The Institution can also take on the command of projects territory wide.

It is in such a context that the idea of the jumelage with the river Richelieu came up.