“Mobilization is understood in the purpose“, but “half of the departments are still in a drought situation“, answers this Saturday, October 29 on France Inter Christophe Béchu, Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, while between 5,000 and 10,000 demonstrators “anti-basins” are expected during the day in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres, despite the ban from the prefecture of the department. About 1,600 gendarmes will be deployed in this village of 350 inhabitants.
>>The tension does not subside around the “basins” in Deux-Sèvres
For the minister, the demonstrators denounce “something right“. He concedes that he “we will have to modify the use we have of the water much more quickly than expected“, emphasizing that agriculture “is on the front line“because the sector”accounts for about half of water withdrawals”. But Christophe Béchu recalls that “commitments have been made to reduce the level of water use by at least 10% in three years“. Then, to defend this bedpan project, the Minister for Ecological Transition argues that he “in parallel, we need alternatives that allow us to continue to feed the French people“.
Christophe Béchu adds that there was “years of work, mediation“, in the department of Deux-Sèvres “to arrive at a plan signed four years ago by everyone“. He specifies : “This project has been the subject of counterparties negotiated with environmental associations, farmers, elected officials from the right, from the environmental left like Delphine Batho who supported it four years ago.“.
Christophe Béchu, Minister for Ecological Transition, about the new demonstration in Deux-Sèvres against mega basins: “The mobilization is understandable in the end, but we have half of the departments still in a drought situation”#le69inter pic.twitter.com/SvoXsybnyG
– France Inter (@franceinter) October 29, 2022
The Minister for the Ecological Transition regrets: “As we enter the implementation phase, we find ourselves with new tensions when everything in the situation today shows us the need to take less water in the summer.“He wishes to emphasize that the government is not the initiator of this project which he is defending.”In July, a scientific study came to say that the project, as it was after expertise, had no negative consequences for groundwater.“
But Christophe Béchu wants to reassure opponents of basins for storing water. “The protocol that was signed four years ago is ‘you change your habits, you profoundly change the way you behave and in return you will have individual access authorizations to these deductions.‘”