A symbolic and rather unusual request to denounce a state decision. Faced with watering bans linked to the drought, the mayor of the very touristic city of Colmar (Haut-Rhin) encouraged the population and restaurateurs to water the planters and flower beds in public spaces themselves, even if it means having recourse to “decanter funds”, a “citizen means of responding to administrative absurdity”.
“I invite Colmar residents and in particular restaurant owners to pour all unpolluted recovery water (water from ice buckets, carafe bottoms, water from washing vegetables, for example) into the nearest planters and flower beds” , wrote Éric Straumann (LR) in a message posted on his Facebook account.
Since last year, the city has had the “Fleur d’Or” label, a distinction rewarding less than ten municipalities in France, for the high quality of their flowers. But Colmar is also one of the municipalities concerned by the decree issued by the prefect of Haut-Rhin Louis Laugier, on August 3, to limit water consumption in the department, to which the city had to comply.
“We need 15 m³ per day” for 300 planters
Last week, the first magistrate tried to obtain a derogation from the prefecture to continue to water its more than 300 planters and not to compromise “investments in labor and plants” and in defense of a “economic sector already affected by the Covid crisis”.
But the meeting of the water resources committee which was held this Thursday morning “did not make it possible to move forward on the subject”, said Éric Straumann in his message on social networks. Denouncing “the absurdity of the regulations”, the mayor cited the example of a municipality bordering Colmar, supplied “by the same well” and where watering remains permitted.
“I remind you that flowers also contribute to an ecosystem and to the presence of bees”, also argued the city councilor, referring to the progress made in recent years in terms of water-efficient irrigation. “We need 15 m³ of water a day, that’s nothing at all for a city of 70,000 inhabitants,” he said.
The Haut-Rhin prefecture confirmed in a press release that “the ban on watering public annual flowerbeds and containers is confirmed for communities”. However, shrubs and young trees escape this deprivation of water “because they make it possible to constitute islands of freshness and represent investments within the framework of adaptation to climate change”, added the prefecture.