While the department of Pyrénées-Orientales is the most affected in France by drought, the repeated storms of recent days bring a glimmer of hope and have singularly changed the crisis situation in the Têt Valley, west of Perpignan. The waters descending from the mountains came to abound the dam of Vinça which sounded hollow in recent weeks. Today, the reservoir that breaks the flood and supplies irrigation to farmers and market gardeners stores 21 million cubic meters out of a potential of 24.5 million cubic meters.
"The situation in the Tet Valley is quite unexpected. It is even better than last year because in the coming hours we will reach the transparency of the structure, that is to say the 24.5 million cubic meters, the moment when we will have to release since the dam is full. This secures the water resource in the valley until August 15. Then we can replenish Vinça with the Bouillouses reservoir. On the strength of these storms, we will try to replenish the underground layers of the Quaternary aquifers, which will make it possible to restart some boreholes, "says Nicolas Garcia, the vice-president of the departmental council in charge of water.
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"We will be able to replenish the irrigation canals to strengthen the food supply on farms, without altering the balance of the river. If the dam had not been emptied, we could have avoided the crisis in this valley, "gauges Gérard Majoral, operator in Thuir and secretary general of the FDSEA of the department, who remains worried about the producers of the valley of Agly, even more arid.
For the time being, the restricted distribution of water towers has not been modified but could be changed quickly while irrigation has been reduced to 50% for drip and 20% for gravity via drought crisis measures to save trees. It is up to Rodrigue Furcy, the prefect, in person to operate the valves.