the Clain protocol on bedpans is signed

Five days after the violence anti-basins demonstration
in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres, the Clain protocol, which provides for the construction of 30 basins in Vienne – capable of storing up to 8.9 million m3 of water – was signed. Jean-Marie Girier, prefect of Vienne, brought together at the prefecture all the players in favor of the project, who ratified the document. In total, among the 54 actors consulted since 2019, 41 have validated the protocol. Six abstained, including the Urban Community of Grand Poitiers and the Chamber of Agriculture of Vienne. Seven refused to sign the document, including several municipalities, such as Vouillé or Migné-Auxences, as well as environmental associations.

41 signatories out of 54

“It’s a first step“, estimates the prefect, Jean-Marie Girier. “For three years, the State has carried out a consultation with nearly sixty actors, who together have debated, negotiated, discussed this protocol so that it is as resilient as possible, as ecological as possible and as suitable as possible. to food sovereignty issues”, he develops.

Four out of six parliamentarians support the project: MPs Sacha Houlié (Renaissance), Pascal Lecamp (MoDem), Nicolas Turquois (MoDem) and Senator Yves Bouloux (Republicans). Present, Pascal Lecamp salutes its consensual dimension: “Who wants water war? Nobody. I think it’s important that we sit around a table and that everyone makes the minimum necessary reconciliations in relation to their own issues, so that together we can find a ‘modus vivendi’ that takes us together for several decades, he declares.

For the Rés’eau Clain and the Association des Irrigants de la Vienne (ADIV), which bring together the 153 irrigating farmers behind the basin project, a big step has been made. “That will be the start of a new adventure, construction. Hoping that the opponents are not as virulent as in Sainte-Soline, because it is the greatest fear of our members“, notes Bertrand Lamarche, President of Rés’eau Clain.

The operational phase will now begin. A steering committee will be created in mid-November to draw up the “territorial contract”, an action plan and monitoring of the construction of the basins. A public interest group, bringing together many public and private water stakeholders, will also be created to monitor the project and the farmers’ commitments. The results of the hydrology environment use climate study (HMUC), expected in the first quarter of 2023, will be taken into account in the CLain protocol. The carriers of the basin project hope to see the first construction site begin before the end of 2023.

A few dozen demonstrators in front of the prefecture

However, this protocol is not unanimous, no environmental association has signed it. “My door remains open to them“, insists Jean-Marie Girier. A few dozen demonstrators gathered near the prefecture from 6 p.m. Activists from France Insoumise, Young Communists, Greenpeace and Bassines Non Merci 86. Among them, Maxence, a fisherman : “I’m not against the basin protocol in principle, but taking water from groundwater in places where they haven’t filled up for four or five years is catastrophic. We started on an endless system“, he says, worried. A large CRS device has been deployed, 40 men.