“We miss the lake, but our rural environment remains very rich, we have other things to offer”, tries to reassure Sébastien de Biasi, the director of the Moncontour leisure center and campsite.
Located in Vienne, this village will not be able to count on its desperately empty lake this summer to attract visitors.
Cured last year to put an end to the presence of cyanobacteria, it could not be filled in the spring or at the beginning of the summer.
The reason ?
A severe shortage of water which led the Poitevin prefecture to prohibit any withdrawal from the nearby river.
Read alsoDrought: agriculture, electricity, leisure... France is forced to rethink its use of water
The businesses that line the lake of Moncontour stick out their tongues
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“Normally, it should be crowded.
But since the start of the season, we have had no one, ”says the daily La Nouvelle République Natacha Guin, the manager of the Auberge du lac which would have lost 85% of its turnover.
The mayor has waived the rents of the most affected businesses
“To meet the needs” of his private bathing customers, Sébastien de Biasi has set up a partnership with the aquatic center of Loudun.
“We are backed by a hotel group, which allows us to limit damage.
We are at 70% filling against 100% usually”, he underlines “in the face of this stroke of bad luck”.
The mayor of Moncontour has decided to waive the rents of the most affected businesses – the walls belong to the municipality – in case the season turns definitively into disaster.
In normal times and for Moncontour, "it's 30,000 euros in revenue", thus entrusted Édouard Renaud to La Nouvelle République
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