Recommended by the European Union to limit flooding or improve water storage, the dismantling of dams and dykes built on rivers, is well accepted in the Aude department of southern France. 'In high water, the river slows down a lot more, it has a lot more space than when it was within an 8-metre bed between two walls,' says river expert Mathieu Dupuis, looking at the remains of a dyke destroyed to give the Clamoux river the space it had before human intervention. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES