Le Figaro Marseille
Sad spectacle on the Marseille coast.
Bad weather drained a lot of waste from the beaches of Marseille last weekend, with the water carrying away the rubbish along the banks of the Huveaune.
Rubbish washed up in particular on the Huveaune beach, nicknamed by the Marseillais
“Épluchures beach”
, due to the recurrence of this phenomenon after heavy rains.
The Marseille town hall carried out a beach clean-up this Monday.
“We even found construction pipes,”
says Christine Juste, deputy mayor in charge of cleanliness.
After carrying out my investigation, these would be pipes coming from a construction site in Aubagne to build the Val'tram
, a tram link included in the Marseille plan in large part.
“But there is mainly household waste,”
sighs Christine Juste.
All along the Huveaune, when the water rises, we collect all the junk, and not just from Marseille, but also from other municipalities!
That's enough !"
According to the deputy mayor, during this rainy episode, wastewater was also dumped directly into the Mediterranean Sea.
The reason ?
In France's second largest city, the rainwater collection network is the same as that for wastewater treatment.
However, when the rain is too heavy, this unique network is no longer able to absorb the entire flow.
Incivism
“I had confirmation,”
says the ecologist.
The company that treats water in Marseille opened a valve at the Prado and sent rainwater and sanitation water offshore.
More precisely, the valve was sent into the Huveaune which then flows into the sea, because the network could no longer absorb all the rainwater.
Enough to provoke the anger of environmental protection associations, such as the Marseille association Clean my Calanques which regularly organizes waste collection sessions on the coast.
“It’s a frustration for us,”
explains its president Éric Akopian.
We had collected the trash on this beach not even a fortnight ago.
There were 360 of us from Marseillais.
And two weeks later, here we are.
People need to understand that as long as there is incivism, it will always be like that!”
This Marseillais calls in particular
for “lids on the trash cans in a city where the mistral is stronger”
, but also
“more garbage collectors”
to ensure waste collection.
The second largest city in France produces 14,000 tonnes of waste each year, or 16 kg per year per inhabitant.