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Video length: 2 min
Drought: Rhône water to the aid of the Pyrénées-Orientales?
Drought: Rhône water to the aid of the Pyrénées-Orientales?
(France 2)
For two years, the Pyrénées-Orientales have been facing a historic drought. The region may have a solution: extend the “Aqua Domitia” project, which transports water from the Rhône. Problem: only as far as Béziers, which is 150 kilometers from Perpignan.
On one side, a landscape burned by more than two years of drought. On the other, 300 km away, the most powerful of French rivers: the Rhône. Some imagine transporting its water to the Pyrénées-Orientales to water crops, through the “Aqua Domitia” project. In Saint-Cyprien (Pyrénées-Orientales), Pierre de Balanda, farmer, is in favor. Its yields have fallen by 80% due to lack of rain and water restrictions. “If Aqua Domitia happens, my farm will also survive”he assures.
This deviation of the Rhône already exists in part. The water is pumped in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône) and transported by a canal and underground pipes to Béziers (Hérault). The idea would be to extend the pipelines to Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), 150 km further south. “Today, at most, we withdraw 150,000 million m3 per year from the Rhône, while each year, 54 billion m3 flow into the sea”, explains Fabrice Verdier, Occitane regional councilor and president of the Compagnie d’ménagement du Bas-Rhône et du Languedoc. However, the project would require at least 10 years of work, which is too long for some farmers.
BRL – Presentation of the “Aqua Domitia” project
BRL – Program and description of the “Aqua Domitia” project
The world
Fabrice Verdier, PS regional councilor of Occitanie, President of the Pays d’Uzès community of communes and president of the Bas-Rhône and Languedoc development company
Daniela Banaru, lecturer in marine biology and ecology at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology.
Non-exhaustive list.
