A catastrophe narrowly avoided. A report commissioned by the government, which the newspaper Liberation echoed on Saturday April 8, takes stock of the malfunctions that occurred during the major drought in the summer of 2022.
The "worse" has been avoided in terms of drinking water supply disruption, underline the authors of the interministerial mission, and "strong measures" are necessary to avoid such a scenario in the future. This interministerial mission notes that "the worst was avoided during the management of the 2022 drought thanks, on the one hand, to the exceptional mobilization of all the actors and, on the other hand, to a high level of filling of the aquifers and reservoirs at the end of winter 2021-2022".
However, the report warns, "such conditions could no longer be met if a similar phenomenon were to recur in the coming years, or even as early as 2023".
The authors warn that "the period of more than a month without rain at the beginning of 2023" as well as the organization of major exceptional sporting events in France, such as the Rugby World Cup in the fall, and the Paris 2024 Olympics, are "likely to act on the peak of drinking water consumption in several large cities during the same period", and "impose particular vigilance as to the risk of a break in drinking water supply".
The document makes eighteen recommendations
To better anticipate the risks, the administration formulates eighteen recommendations intended to better understand the extent of the problem, anticipate and inform. The authors tackle in particular the thorny question of sobriety, recalling the objective of a 10% reduction in levies by 2024 – an objective now postponed to 2030 by President Emmanuel Macron during the recent presentation of the plane "water":
“The mission recommends that the ministries in charge of each sector invite the actors to develop national roadmaps for water savings. »
With regard to agriculture, which accounts for 58% of national water consumption to irrigate crops or water animals, the mission considers that "the recurrence of droughts highlights the fragility of our agricultural model and the imperative need for a massive collective effort to accelerate its transformation".
Towards the reuse of wastewater for golf courses?
The authors also suggest a "more precise national framing" to help prefects overwhelmed with requests for exemptions in the event of withdrawal restrictions, and in the face of measures perceived by the public as too severe (closure of car washes) or too lax (watering golf courses).
They also look into this symbolic question of sports practices and allude, without naming names, to a "derogation obtained by a national level football club" to water its lawn. They believe that the derogation enjoyed by golf courses for watering in times of crisis is "not understandable".
The reuse of treated wastewater "can be a solution for golf courses", says the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, in an interview with Liberation. According to him, most of the mission's recommendations are already included in the government's "water" plan or "are the subject of instructions to prefects or ministerial services". A construction site "requires a little more time", that of a possible hardening of the sanctions "in the event of non-compliance with the decrees prohibiting irrigation for example", says Mr. Béchu, noting that these decrees, last summer , "have not always [been] followed by effects or fines" among offenders. In agriculture, "not all actors take the path of sobriety," he lamented.
