In the past many watercourses were managed in agricultural or anti flooding purposes, disregarding the ecological characteristics of these water bodies. The evolution of the perceptions of rivers ecological services leads managers to implement restoration in order to obtain a better ecological status. The river Vistre is greatly modified by strong hydraulic modifications. A management plan was built in 2001 based on a physical restoration a river section to increase ecological functioning and biodiversity of the water body. In 2004, a 1.8 km length sector was restored: creating meanders, gravels reloading, management of a flooding area, riparian vegetation planting. In 2008 a study was designed to assess the environmental gains of this restoration: new hydro morphological characterization of biotopes (flow, current speeds, substrates), microbial processes in charge of organic matter mineralization and ecological status of the macrophytes and invertebrates communities. A marked diversification of substrates and current speed ranges types was obtained in the restored sector inducing increasing habitat diversity. A significant increase in the biodiversity of macrophytes was obtained and a limited improvement in the structure and the composition of the invertebrate communities. Microbial processes implied in the self purification process have no spatial or temporal pattern and obviously did not improve water quality. Finally, the quality of the water remains poor with high phosphorus concentrations and only very little differences on chemical water quality between upstream and downstream was observed. Despite the physical improvement in this river reach, the chemical quality maintains a stress on macrophytes and invertebrates: an improvement of the chemical water quality is thus essential so that ecological benefits associated to the physical restoration could express.