Ahen the President of the Republic and the Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, made public, Thursday, March 30, the measures of the “water plan”, France was in an unprecedented crisis with lasting effects. In a country where water is still too often perceived as an inexhaustible resource, the end of abundance is well and truly there.
As parliamentarians, it is our responsibility to measure this crisis at its true gravity and to act alongside the government, experts, stakeholders in the sector and water users, to make our nation resilient and preserve our most precious common resource.
In the summer of 2022, a thousand municipalities lacked drinking water for several weeks. A hundred had to be supplied by tanks. This year, 80% of our groundwater tables are at below normal levels, compared to less than 50% in February 2022.
According to the study Explore 2070, over the next thirty years, mainland France could experience an overall decrease in speeds of around 10% to 40%. Due to ecological disturbances, the hydrology of our territories will then be greatly modified both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view.
A national priority
But if the question of the resilience of our agricultural model is essential, it is essential not to reduce the debate on water to mega-basins. The problem is much more complex, and it is imperative to make water a national priority. We have a huge stake in consuming less water, more efficiently and reusing it massively.
Like the management of the current energy crisis with the sobriety plan and the two laws recently adopted on renewable energies and nuclear power, the high probability of a chronic scarcity of water calls for a territorial movement , national and European. We must therefore approach the problem of water with a prism similar to that of energy with a three-pronged strategy: sobriety, efficiency, (re)production.
Sobriety must be the first lever to activate. As water becomes scarce, our uses must adapt. For this, the margin of progress is strong, both at the individual level and in the economic fabric to fight against water wastage. While this may imply prohibitions when the resource is under stress, a more global reflection must be initiated on new tariff engineering, such as the generalization of progressive water pricing. Because filling a swimming pool or hydrating should not be accounted for in the same plan, it is absolutely necessary to deploy the individual meters as quickly as possible.
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