“This is not in line with the state of our resource”, deplores the Peasant Confederation

Nearly 4,000 demonstrators took part in a “festive hike” on Saturday against a project to build two mega-basins in Puy-de-Dôme.

“This is not in line with the state of our resource”deplores on franceinfo Nicolas Fortin, breeder in Vienne and national secretary of the Confédération paysanne, while he participates, Saturday May 11, in a demonstration against a project to build two mega-basins in Puy-de-Dôme.

Nearly 4,000 demonstrators took part in this “festive hike”according to France Bleu Pays d’Auvergne, in a “good atmosphere”far from the images of violence which may have marked public opinion after the Sainte-Soline demonstrations in 2023. “It’s a certain image that we wanted to send backregrets Nicolas Fortin, nOur object is to talk about the substance of the subject, namely the problem of water, access to water for a greater number of farmers, sharing of water.

“It’s a confiscation of water”

The union is calling for a moratorium on construction projects for these large water reservoirs, the equivalent of 46 football fields. “It’s a confiscation, it’s an appropriation of water with public funds, because we are here on a project of two mega-basins for 36 farmers, but there are many more farmers than that in the Limagne plain”denounces Nicolas Fortin.

The FNSEA, another agricultural union, is in favor of the project and puts forward the argument that the water returns to its natural environment, during its use, in the summer, in corn fields in particular. This is false, according to the Vienne breeder. For him, unlike the domestic use of drinking water, irrigation water does not return to the natural environment, “When we water agricultural land, most of the water goes back into local evapotranspiration, so it goes into evaporation and plant transpiration. It is therefore lost and cannot be reused.

“All scientific studies say that there is less and less water available”says the representative of Confédération paysanne, “so we believe that we must adapt our agriculture to water resources, upstream by prioritizing uses”.