These new water restriction measures are due to come into force on May 10 in a department which is experiencing exceptional drought.
Measurements “of crisis”, including new water restrictions, will come into force on May 10 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, affected by an exceptional drought. The content of these measures will be specified the day before by an order, the prefect announced on Friday April 28. This “crisis alert level”the highest, will concern “the territories of Têt and Agly”two rivers crossing part of this border department of Spain, he added, the day after a meeting of the local Water Resources Committee.
>> TESTIMONIALS. Farmer, fisherman, mayor… In the middle of winter, they are already suffering from drought and fear “a water war”
“I don’t want to be in a position that affects the production tool, that harms the trees”, underlined the prefect Rodrigue Furcy about agriculture, without specifying whether derogations from the ban on irrigation were planned, in particular for fruit trees. There will be “additional restrictions” for certain sectors or activities: golf courses, car washes, sales of above-ground swimming pools or drilling, he added.
“Manage the crisis in the most peaceful way possible”
Recalling that the current drought is “the sharpest since 1959”the prefect expressed his desire to‘”avoid conflicts of use, conflicts of water war” and of “manage the crisis in the most peaceful way possible”. “We have arrived at a period when there is no more snow and where the vegetation absorbs a lot of water. The quantity of water that we have is the one that must be managed until the end of summer”he warned.
“This department lives in anticipation what some of the departments around the Mediterranean are likely to experience”had noted the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, before the Hydrological Anticipation and Monitoring Committee (Cash), which brought together Thursday in Perpignan the actors of water management at the national level.