Drought: Colmar requests an exemption to be able to water its massifs

Colmar does not want to see its beds burn out because of the drought.

The tourist town, which enjoys a "four flowers" label, announced on Friday that it had requested an exemption from the Haut-Rhin prefecture to be able to continue to water its flower beds, while the department is subject to new measures of restriction of water use.

Colmar has "heavily invested to ensure its reputation as a

and

and thus maintain its tourist appeal", argues the city in a press release published on its site.

Its mayor, LR Éric Straumann, "subscribes to the desire to preserve water resources, but would like certain particularities of the City of Colmar to be taken into account and compromises found", continues the municipality.

On Wednesday, the prefect, Louis Laugier, announced that he had issued an order imposing "new measures to temporarily limit certain uses of water", after those taken on July 12, the situation having meanwhile become "critical in the Vosges valleys and in the south of the department.

Colmar is one of the municipalities concerned by these restrictions, according to the decree which, although it "does not prohibit the watering of trees, shrubs and trees in pots", on the other hand prohibits that "of lawns, green spaces and public flower beds”, notes the town hall, which therefore stopped “the watering of grassy areas and green spaces”.

To "not weaken" the tourism sector

But so that the “investments in labor and plants” granted by the city “are not a loss, and so as not to further weaken an economic sector already affected by the Covid-19 crisis, (Éric Straumann ) has submitted a request for an exemption to the Prefect in order to continue watering the flower beds and planters, ”indicates the town hall.

Colmar has been rethinking “its green spaces for several years to adapt to the effects of climate change and successive droughts”, argues the city, anxious to find “a fair balance between vital needs and preservation of fauna and flora.

France has been facing a historic drought for weeks.

Currently, "more than a hundred municipalities" are deprived of drinking water, said Friday the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu.