Le Figaro Nice
The alert is given:
“the national forecasts and projections force us to affirm from the outset that the situation is not going to improve”
.
These words were spoken on Friday morning by the president of the Alpes-Maritimes departmental council, Charles-Ange Ginesy.
The latter had brought together a slew of elected officials and local actors, including the deputy and president of the Republicans Éric Ciotti or the Senator (LR) Dominique Estrosi-Sassone, on the occasion of the presentation of the 1st assessment of the Departmental water observatory.
Launched last September, this system, made up of 31 experts, has the main objective of finding concrete solutions to the problem of resource management.
In fact, the scarcity of water, its management and its storage in the department are an absolute concern.
“
The situation we are experiencing today in April 2023 is much more alarmist than last year at the same time
,” recalled the president, supporting figures.
Thus, in the month of March, for example, rainfall is down 76% in the Maralpine territory compared to normal.
All the water tables are showing abnormally low levels and all the water flows measured to date (Cagne, Loup, Siagne, Var, etc.) are much lower than last year.
They are in fact at an alert level corresponding to that of a month of June or even July.
“
Since 1959, it
The second was last year!
, exclaimed the olive grower Jean-Philippe Frère, vice-president of the departmental chamber of Agriculture.
To overcome an unprecedented crisis to come, the Department has already adopted, when voting on its annual budget, a departmental water management plan to the tune of 27 million euros.
A significant part (10 million) of this sum must be used in particular to finance the replacement of leaky pipes and the modernization of distribution networks to increase efficiency by 70 to 90%.
In addition, as of this winter, the transport capacities of “Force 06” have been multiplied thanks to the acquisition of 30 food tanks for 31,800 liters of drinking water in order to supply the valleys during the summer season.
“
Since 1959, this is the third year that the department has suffered to such an extent from the lack of water.
The second was last year!
»
Jean-Philippe Frère, Vice-President of the Departmental Chamber of Agriculture.
With regard to the Observatory, several actions have been undertaken on the ground in recent months.
Like the implementation of an experiment in the active management of aquifers (the rocks that harbor water) in an area under tension with the conduct of a pilot test for the controlled recharge of another aquifer.
“We have observed for several years a drop in the level of groundwater.
This phenomenon is now accentuated by the drop in precipitation and therefore the recharge of aquifers.
This is reflected in the increase in the salinity of groundwater close to the shore and the inland advance of the salty bevel, making certain drinking water supply boreholes unusable.
We always have water, but in poorer quality, even of a quality incompatible with consumption
, detailed on this point benoît Viguier, hydrogeologist and member of the Observatory committee.
It is therefore a question of setting up a monitoring of the salt wedge through the installation of probes at different depths.
»
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As part of its missions of global knowledge on the resource and its uses, the Observatory, accompanied by the Smiage (Joint syndicate for floods, development and water management), is also working on an exhaustive cartography to know precisely the hydrology of the territory and propose, in fine, actions aimed at responding to the scarcity of the resource.
“We need to look for alternative solutions with untapped water sources, very often channeled under cities or urban areas.
For example, in Nice, there are many springs that flow into the sea. Several liters of water flow into the Mediterranean every second and are lost.
They should be connected to freshwater networks, as is already the case in other regions, ”
explained the hydrologist.
"It would have to rain two months in a row for us to be reassured!"
In view of climate change, which is disrupting the production cycle, and of increased sensitivity to meteorological hazards, the agricultural sector is bearing the full brunt of drought.
Friday morning, the county council, through the voice of its president and Eric Ciotti (who also chairs the finance commission), reaffirmed its support for the 1,400 Maralpine farmers.
"
The Department proposes to integrate investments for irrigation into the heart of the AIME system (Aid for investment and modernization of farms) subject to transcription of the State aid scheme and the agreement to come with the Region during the next period 2023-2027
", indicated Charles-Ange Ginesy.
The president also pointed to the
“considerable” effort
of the department to transport water to the places of mountain pastures:
"600,000 liters last year"
, he underlined.
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“Agriculture is atypical in the 06. 60% of us are connected to the drinking water network.
It's madness, we water vegetables with water that has been treated, there is a lot of basic work to be done.
Still, the lack of water for the coming months is an anxiety.
It would have to rain for two months in a row for us to be reassured
, ”said Jean-Philippe Frère.
And the olive grower continues:
“We have villas and people who consume up to 1000 cubic meters of water per week, for swimming pools and lawns.
I believe that we all have an effort to make.
Issuing decrees is good, but they still have to be enforced.
We must give priority to agricultural production.”
If he salutes the government's water plan, Jean-Philippe Frère considers it insufficient and incomplete.
“
We are asking for a Marshall Plan, with means that meet the needs of communities, municipalities and the agricultural world
,” he concluded.
Éric Ciotti, for his part, recalled
“the need to anticipate”
the lack of water, with better storage capacities.
The latter also believes
in "science and technology"
as a solution to deal with drought.