[FRANCE] A 20-year project to restore the Drome River Valley in the Department of Drome, southeastern France, won the 2005 International Thiess Riverprize at the eighth international Riversymposium being held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Flows in the Drome River, which was once rank with pollution and sucked dry by irrigators, were monitored regularly and local sewage treatment plants were upgraded. As a result, water quality has improved significantly, along with the condition of wetlands, and flood risks have dropped. Judges at Riversymposium called the project "a model for European river management." summary by Louise Shaler