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VIDEO. Report from Durban-Corbières, the village that lives without water
In the village of Durban-Corbières, in the Aude, residents have no longer had access to water from their homes from 2 p.m. to 8 a.m. every day for 8 weeks. They have been experiencing this for 3 summers. Due to the shortage and drought, the entire village is affected.
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In the village of Durban-Corbières, in the Aude, residents have no longer had access to water from their homes from 2 p.m. to 8 a.m. every day for 8 weeks. They have been experiencing this for 3 summers. Due to the shortage and drought, the entire village is affected.
Olivier Castelbou, resident of Durban-Corbières, explains: “This is the third truck of the morning, bringing 30 cubic metres for the third time. That will keep us going for the day.” Due to lack of rain and with the water tables completely dried up, the village has to be supplied with drinking water daily by tanker trucks.
Hervé Pagès, truck driver, remembers a time when “you could dive into the river” in neighboring Narbonne. “In the space of 20 years, it has gotten worse, something phenomenal,” he laments.
To cope with the shortage, residents had to organize themselves. Adeline, a hairdresser, explains: “I have water cans that I store just before the power cut, I have my small reserve. Before the power cut, I fill them up and then I take over with my camper shower.”
Traders are also impacted. A restaurateur testifies: “From 2pm onwards, we have no way of getting water, no toilets, nothing for cooking or washing.” Jeanne, manager of a guest house, had to “put buckets everywhere” so that his customers can shower.
The mayor of Durban-Corbières highlights the economic impact: “There are people who cancel reservations, who leave. There is a financial impact, a nuisance for traders.” Jeanne estimates that she has lost around €8,000 in turnover.
Faced with this situation, the municipality is appealing for subsidies to renovate the dilapidated network, with more than 50% leaks according to the State. A major project that seems “unrealizable” according to the mayor, given the state of the old pipes in the medieval village, lasting solutions remain to be found.