Emmanuel Macron will present his plan to improve water management on Thursday in Savines-le-Lac. The president should announce about fifty measures.
Emmanuel Macron is traveling this Thursday, March 30 to Savines-le-Lac in the Hautes-Alpes to present the “water plan” intended to improve the management of this resource threatened by drought and climate change. A move that falls in the midst of a social crisis around the pension reform. France 3 Provence-Alpes summarizes what we know about this trip.
- A series of measures expected to deal with the water crisis
The President of the Republic should propose a series of measures “aiming to redefine, in conjunction with elected officials and local authorities, our water management policy to adapt it to the challenges of climate change”indicates the Elysée to France 3 Provence-Alpes.
Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by the Ministers of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, and Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, will announce some fifty measures, including a section on the reuse of wastewater, the fight against water leaks, but also measures concerning the price of water or even agricultural use, the main consumer of water via irrigation in France. The President will also address the issue of tourism and recreation.
This plan is a “true turn” in the approach to water management in France, indicates Benoît Faraco, energy, environment, transport and agriculture adviser at the Elysée.
This presentation comes at the end of a particularly dry winter, with a record 32 days without rain, which did not allow the water tables to be reconstituted, for 80% below normal on March 1st.
- A presentation in a territory hit hard
Emmanuel Macron chose to come to Savines-le-Lac, a town located next to the Serre-Ponçon lake, because it is the largest freshwater reserve in Western Europe. An area that combines all the issues related to water.
In 2022, the weather stations in the Hautes-Alpes have recorded record average temperatures since the start of the measurements. Cumulative precipitation was down more than 25% from normal. The water tables are now at lower levels than last year at the same time.
The drought is evident in this satellite view of the lake in 2022, compared to 2018:
- A trip in a tense context around the pension reform
The presentation of the “water plan” had been announced for January 26 and has since been postponed many times. This is Emmanuel Macron’s first trip since the start of the social crisis around pension reform. A context of recurring demonstrations, some turning into chaos, as in Sainte-Soline, around the water retention site. A “adequate device“security has been planned in the Hautes-Alpes, details a prefectural source to France 3 Provence-Alpes, without however”initiate road closures and massive access closures.” “Everything will be done to limit the impact on populations and residents.“, we insist.