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Deeply liberal, the mayor of Cannes is one of those elected Republicans who fight against the idea that ecology is the prerogative of the left.
For David Lisnard, the preservation of the environment goes hand in hand with economic growth, scientific and technological progress.
"Restricting uses by moralizing is so much easier
," he grumbled Wednesday at the end of the day, during the presentation of his
"Water actions" program.
The LR councilor and president of the Cannes Lérins Agglomeration invited a handful of journalists and local elected officials to the Acquaviva wastewater treatment plant in Mandelieu-la-Napoule to tell them about his various projects in terms of water management. water and reuse of treated wastewater.
Coincidence of the calendar or not, the timing is ideal.
In fact, the conference comes the day before Emmanuel Macron's presentation of the government plan for water management in France.
“
We are not discovering this problem of water today.
This is something that concerns us and on which we have been working for 22 years”,
first wanted to remind David Lisnard.
As early as 2001, the Agglomeration got involved alongside Sicacil (inter-municipal drinking water union in the Cannes basin) in securing the supply of drinking water to the west of the Alpes-Maritimes to "better anticipate the
needs future”
.
In practice, this has materialized over the years by obtaining water rights to the strategic reserve of the artificial lake of Saint-Cassien, up to 10 million cubic meters per year.
"This allowed us, for the year 2021 alone, to leave 5 million cubic meters of water in the natural environment
," he explained.
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12.7 million euros have thus been devoted by the Cannes Lérins Agglomeration to these projects in 2022 and 48 projects have been carried out.
Like the renewal of the Siagne and Loup canals over portions of 312 and 332 meters or the commissioning of 10.5 kilometers of new drinking water pipes.
So many developments that made the mayor of the city of festivals say that the response to environmental issues could not pass “
through decline, which is a source of regression in all cases.
»
Alleviate water stress, by all means
But this is only a tip of the iceberg.
David Lisnard relies just as much on the reuse of wastewater.
And for good reason, at a time when droughts are on the increase, alleviating water stress is a concern for many elected officials.
As a reminder, the Alpes-Maritimes department was placed on drought alert from March 13.
And the intentions of the mayor of Cannes in this area are numerous.
They focus on two axes: using as little drinking water as possible and exploiting new alternative resources.
Read alsoDrought: the rules will change for the reuse of wastewater, announces Christophe Béchu
To this end, the Cannes Agglomeration hopes to be able to use treated wastewater for cleaning the roads in Cannes and Mandelieu or for the maintenance of industrial vehicles and household waste dumpsters.
But also in crop irrigation.
“There is no difference between the use of this treated wastewater and that of drinking water for these uses.
Moreover, this practice would allow us to preserve 15 million cubic meters out of the 33 that we take each year in drinking water for these same uses
, ”insisted David Lisnard.
A program launched almost 10 years ago, a first in Europe, but which has so far been unsuccessful.
The fault of
“Bureaucratic leviathan that is doing so much harm to our communities.
The only limit today is regulatory!
“, he estimated.
“
We are still waiting for permits.
I'm hopeful it's only a matter of hours
," he added, referring to Emmanuel Macron's expected announcements on Thursday.
“We must now stop reversing the burden of proof and stop adding tons of regulations.
The Ministry of the Environment supports us, it is the health authorities who have been maximalists for 10 years and who are dealing a bad ecological and economic blow to our country by this inability to use wastewater”
.
David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes and president of the “New Energy” party.
In fact, once the green light has been granted, the reuse of wastewater could begin as early as June.
In Antibes in particular, thanks to the 70 million liters of water from the Salis pumping station which treats gray water from Antibes and Biot.
The water, which until now was discharged into the sea, should thus make it possible to water the public gardens and clean the roads.
In Cannes, David Lisnard also intends to water the green spaces of the Croisette with the drainage water from the Lamy car park, which is still discharged into the sea via the city's stormwater network.
“If we want to have islands of freshness and fight against global warming, there must be green spaces and they must be irrigated.
We can very well reconcile ecology and activity, so we will do it”
, he justified, pulling the rug out from under the feet of detractors who could accuse him of only wanting to guarantee the green image of his city.
In addition, the 74 hectares of the Old Course golf course in Mandelieu should also benefit, from June, from the reuse of wastewater from the Acquaviva treatment plant, for a saving of 150,000 cubic meters of drinking water per year. .
Finally, the beaches of Cannes should experiment this summer with shower cabins that recycle water, in order to recover 90% of the water used.
“We must now stop reversing the burden of proof and adding tons of regulations.
The Ministry of the Environment supports us, it is the health authorities who have been maximalists for 10 years and who are dealing a bad ecological and economic blow to our country by this inability to use wastewater", concluded the president of "New
Energy ".
