In this heat, you may want to swim in the waters of Indre-et-Loire: the beaches along the rivers, the lakes, the bodies of water. But bathing is generally not allowed, as it is unsupervised, before the beginning of July. Bringing the date forward is complicated, first for cost reasons. “We make a contract, from July 1 to August 31, with a lifeguard, who is there including Sundays and public holidays, it’s quite heavy to manage, there is also all the logistics all around, maintenance , cleaning“explains Jean-Claude Gauthier, the mayor of Château-la-Vallière, where the Val Joyeux lake is located.
We are talking about a contract of 15,000 euros for a month and a half of monitoring
Would it be possible to extend, in the coming years, this period of supervised bathing, in order to correspond to the earlier heat waves? “We can always think, but additional help would be welcome. Several additional months of lifeguard, it would weigh quite heavily on finances” answers Jean-Claude Gauthier. Confirmation of Olivier Viémont, the mayor of Monnaie where the lake of the ark, which will be authorized for swimming from July 15. “Bathing supervision is provided by the Aqua Life association, with qualified lifeguards, we are talking about a contract of 15,000 euros for a month and a half of supervision.” he clarifies. “The school also ends later this year, we wanted to launch the swimming season after the festivities of July 14.”
Cyanobacteria, the sword of Damocles on swimming
The financial criterion weighed in the choice of the opening date but there is another reason: cyanobacteria, which usually appear at this time and make swimming impossible. The results of the water analyzes will be released in early July. “Hence the idea also of not opening too earlycontinues Olivier Viémont, in order to give visibility to swimming and to our service provider, which would be impacted by a non-opening.
While waiting to find out if we can take a dip this summer at the lake of the ark, the elected officials of Monnaie and the municipal guard regularly pass through the area to prevent bathing. Their greatest fear is obviously drowning. Whether in Monnaie, Château-la-Vallière or Bourgueil, patience, you have to wait for the green flag.