After the energy sobriety plan, here is the anti-drought plan.
In an interview with Le
Parisien
on Tuesday, the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu details the government's plan to fight against episodes of drought, which are more and more frequent.
That of 2022 had severely affected several departments.
According to the member of the executive,
“700 municipalities have experienced drinking water supply difficulties”
and things are not going to
“work out”.
“Nature leaves us no choice,”
he insists.
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In order to better prevent these waves and better manage the quantity of water available, the government wishes to
“reduce by a little more than 10% the volume of water taken from our basements by the end of the five-year period”
.
This represents a drop of
"4 billion cubic meters out of a total of 33 captured each year."
Read alsoEcological transition: Christophe Béchu, a minister from the right who still has to convince
While farmers regularly see their land affected by this drought, with strong consequences for harvests, Christophe Béchu is blowing hot and cold.
If he calls the profession to a little more aquatic sobriety, the minister considers that it
“would be hypocritical to set too many restrictions on French agriculture, which would push us to import.”
“A consequence of global warming”
As for individuals, the former mayor of Angers wants to
"change certain construction rules"
for certain dwellings.
Christophe Béchu also announces a kind of equivalent of EcoWatt - the energy consumption weather forecast - to the use of water.
It also provides for an audiovisual communication plan made up of
“simple advice because many French people are ready to act.”
“It is a consequence of global warming to which all French people must adapt,”
said the minister.
The government finally wants to change the territorial management of resources.
“We cannot keep municipalities that manage drinking water competence on their own.
The objective of installing water management in intermunicipalities in 2026 must be met,”
explains Christophe Béchu.
The latter requests an
“information device in real time and at a specific address via an app or a website.”
With forecasting analyzes that would be refined before the summer, it would then be possible to
“take restrictions, as soon as they are necessary, well before the start of the summer
”.