A water agency in France, formerly called a basin agency, is a public administrative establishment that participates in water management within an administrative basin district, whose boundaries correspond to a large hydrographic basin. There are six of them, all established by the Water Law of 1964, specified by the Law of 3 January 1992. The hydrographic basins of the overseas departments of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, and Réunion are equipped with a Water Office, with equivalent missions.[1]
In 2000 the European Union created hydrographic districts based on the model of these basin agencies; in other countries their activities are fulfilled by a water board.