The usual downpours of autumn are desired this year in the Pyrénées-Orientales and this absence worsens a situation of persistent drought since last autumn in the department.
So much so that the water table, into which the borehole supplying Bouleternère, Saint-Michel-de-Llotes, Corbère-les-Cabanes and Corbère plunges, rose very quickly in mid-October to 5.70 m, below its rating. alert set at 6 m.
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And this, even though the restrictions on washing cars, watering gardens and filling swimming pools have been in effect for several months and that, throughout the summer, the irrigation systems have been the subject of stringent management. .
Solicited, the local union of canals, which manages agricultural irrigation systems, waited for an authorization from the State services to release 200 liters per second from the canals to the bed of Boulès to recharge the water table .
80 cm better
"We have waited a long time for this written authorization from the State", explains the director of the union, Sandrine Jaffard, in a context of local tensions between the various actors of the water file.
"We wanted to specify the duration of the release, the volumes, the quota where it was allowed to take ..."
Since the installation of this release on October 15, the water table has gained 80 cm, proof of the effectiveness of the system.
But the four municipalities are not necessarily out of business if it is not raining.
There are no longer any reserves in Lake Vinça, upstream, which is used to supply the canals and the Tet River.
Even the support of Lac des Bouillouses, upstream on the Têt in the mountains, is not enough.
The next deadline will be November 1, when the flow reserved for the river, set by the administration, will drop from 600 liters per second to 1,200 liters… With a current flow of the river of 2,700 liters per second, there is no there is no room for maneuver between the different uses.
Other solutions, such as the installation of a new borehole, are being studied.
