The drought is becoming more and more worrying in Berry. In the departments of Indre and Cher, several basins are placed on heightened alert, or even crisis (the highest level). It means that water use restrictions are in place in the sectors concerned. Companies, farmers, individuals are called to responsibility. This is also the case for local authorities which have to rethink their system of watering green spaces.
How do I keep watering flowers and lawns? How to take care of parks while preserving water resources as much as possible? In Châteauroux, choices had to be made at the first signs of drought. “The first prefectural decree fell at the end of May, when we were supposed to plant seasonal beds in annual”explains Julien Develle, the manager of the green spaces department of Châteauroux Métropole, a town which has obtained the four flowers of the “Villes et villages fleuris” label.
“We said to ourselves that we would not have enough recovery water, nor enough staff to manually water all our beds.he says. So the first decision was to arbitrate between our seasonal beds, and we didn’t plant 40% of our production”.
– Emeline Ferry
At the beginning of August, a new wave of strong heat hit the country and affected Berry. So the schedules of the agents of the green spaces service have been adjusted to work cool. “We start at 5 a.m. and we finish around noon, says Ludovic, watering flowers on a roundabout in the Saint-Christophe district of Châteauroux. It’s important for us, but also for the flowers, it’s not ideal to water in the heat.”.
With his colleagues, they water manually using rainwater collected in several tanks in the city, which allows four to five weeks of autonomy. Notwithstanding, three parks can continue to be watered in the town: the Public Garden, the Cordeliers Garden and the Capuchin Garden. “It’s important for people, they are places of freshness where they can take refuge when it’s very hot”, specifies Julien Develle, the manager of the green spaces department.
Thinking about flowering that consumes less water
On the stadium side, three lawns have derogations because they host national-level clubs (Berrichonne football at the Gaston-Petit stadium, the Berri reserve at the Claude-Jamet stadium and the RACC at the Chevaliers stadium). Sensors have been installed on these plots and allow the humidity rate to be measured and the decision to start watering if necessary or not.
Unfortunately, these drought situations are likely to be more and more frequent. So we have to anticipate the future and look for long-term solutions. Adaptations have already been made: “The plant palette has been adapted, we no longer plant what we planted fifteen years ago”says Julien Develle, who also mentions the mulching and mycorrhization. “The objective is to adapt to have a flowering tomorrow that consumes less waterhe adds. We think, we ask ourselves a lot of questions, we will have to reinvent ourselves in the years to come”.
In Aubigny-sur-Nère, the fountains are stopped
In Berry, only four municipalities have obtained the four flowers of the “Villes et villages fleuris” label. This is particularly the case of Aubigny-sur-Nère (Cher) since 2002. But the area has just fallen into a crisis situation in the face of drought, according to the last prefectural decree. So how do you continue to take care of all those flowers?
The municipality is obliged to find solutions, in particular thanks to a stormwater retention basincreated a few years ago. “We always have the right to water with this rainwaterexplains Laurence Renier, mayor of the town. All planters and suspensions that were in automatic watering are removed”.
“It’s a difficulty for a city with four flowers, because we have tourism for these flowerscontinues the chosen one. We will try to preserve them as much as possible, but if there is no more water in our ponds, we will stop watering. There is no question of going to get water from the tap. You have to make an effort and have a responsible attitude”. Another measure: the fountains of the town have been stopped “because even if we are in a closed circuit, we still have to add water because of evaporation, so we decided not to do it anymore and to stop them”.