Hope from the Waters

Despite enormous challenges, French waterways show remarkable resilience. Species thought extinct reappear when given chance. Rivers self-clean when pollution stops. Communities organize when given voice. Hope flows from a thousand sources.

The Seine now hosts 35 fish species versus 3 in the 1970s. Salmon return to rivers where they'd been absent for decades. Otters recolonize waterways throughout France. Each success builds momentum for greater ambitions.

"Water wants to be clean," reflects retired engineer Jacques Fontaine, who spent his career first polluting then restoring rivers. "Give it half a chance, and it heals itself. Our job is removing barriers to that healing—dams, chemicals, ignorance. Rivers know what to do if we let them."