Water and quality of streams, rivers and coasts has become a major concern for several years, especially in the face of global changes. Their protection has been established under the European Union Water Framework Directive of 2000, which has laid down the ambitious challenge of reaching good water quality status in the continent by 2015/2020. This status, defined by chemical and biological parameters, is influenced by a combination of factors including water temperature which has an effect on oxygen dissolution and on inner temperature regulation in aquatic organisms and biochemical metabolism. Watercourses temperature mainly depends on three factors: climate, hydrology and insolation. Insolation is the only parameter which can be mitigated as it is linked to the vegetation canopy surrounding streams, and flow velocity linked to flows influenced by irrigation or others water uses. This study falls within a long term project which aims to produce a simple model relating water temperature to riparian vegetation characteristics, in order to help local actors improve waterbodies management. The first part of the project, which is the subject of this study, involves implementing a sampling strategy in order to identify appropriate sites for watercourses temperature monitoring through in situ loggers, relying on data already gathered by rivers syndicates and on riparian vegetation as well. The study takes place in three watersheds, located in the plain of the Bresse to the north of Lyon, intensely used for intensive agriculture.