August 2021. The municipalities of Montpezat, Montmirat, Cannes-et-Clairan, Crespian, Lecques and Vic-Le-Fesq are brutally deprived of drinking water. For more than a week, no water at the tap between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The municipalities are organizing to supply the inhabitants with bottled water. We initially thought of a fall in the level of the water table which supplies these municipalities. Verification made after the incident, it is a probe which would have been faulty at the level of the capture. “It was a shock entrusts a year later the mayor of Montpezat, Jean-Michel Andriuzzi. _People don’t expect to run out of drinking water_. And as soon as we tell them that we are going to cut off the water at the tap, there are criticisms. We are attacked as elected when we have nothing to do with it.”
Cheaper water for the most virtuous consumers
In order not to relive such a scenario, work has been undertaken to repair the faulty probe. The leaks were plugged in the pipes. SAUR, which manages and operates the drinking water network on behalf of the Vidourle intermunicipal drinking water supply union, on which the municipalities depend, has since set up a new tariff system. “We have developed a new type of contract giving a bonus to small water consumers and a financial penalty to large consumers. explains Jean-Michel Andriuzzi. Knowing that in heavy consumers, we have a medicalized foster home which has a great need for drinking water. We had to find the right balance. If we consume less than 60 m3, we will pay much less for drinking water than if we consume more than 400m3. We communicated a lot and seven months after the implementation of this new grid, I have not had any negative feedback. Not even those who pay a little more. And when we look at the graphs, we realize that we have consumed less water.”
Long-term thinking
Jean-Michel Andriuzzi has no illusions. “The water tables of the Mediterranean arc are getting lower and lower. And it will continue. We must therefore find alternative solutions while making our constituents aware of saving drinking water.“The town hall of Montpezat is setting an example.”No more green space is watered with drinking water. We have also launched a project to reuse water from the treatment plant. He is under investigation. ” To be completely quiet, the mayor also hopes to see another project come to fruition. That the municipality can, why not, occasionally connect to the Bas-Rhône canal nearby so you don’t run out of water in summer. Or connect to “friendly” drinking water supply unions, for help. In Montpezat, the battle for water has just begun.