2023-10-08 14:56:24
Five months have passed and the water still sings in the canals between Saint-Chamas (Bouches-du-Rhône) and the Crau plain. In this agricultural area eaten away by human presence, to the west of the Etang de Berre, the summer was scorching and marked by a 23.6% drop in precipitation. But it did not generate the same fears as the previous year, when producers of AOC hay, wine growers, community leaders and individuals were juggling the severe restrictions on water use imposed by the prefect of the department.
Gilbert Grasset, deputy mayor of Saint-Chamas, at his home, in Saint-Chamas (Bouches-du-Rhône), September 27, 2023. VIVIANE DALLES POUR “LE MONDE”
“Everything went well… We didn’t run out of water. We even got more than we needed,” breathes, relieved, Gilbert Grasset. The deputy mayor of Saint-Chamas, president of the two authorized trade union associations (ASA) which manage the canals supplying this town of 8,300 inhabitants with water diverted from the Durance, receives hay on his land. Pompon, his Brittany spaniel, gallops in all directions.
In mai, The world decided to follow climate change in this corner of Provence for five months, and the impact of drought on a series of witnesses. At the time, the septuagenarian feared “an even more difficult summer” than the previous one. Eventually, his phone only rang for routine problems. “Leaking pipes, individuals who forget to release the water after their irrigation tour…”he lists.
Canal flow rates have not been reduced. And, as the end of the irrigation season approaches, Lake Serre-Ponçon, in the Hautes-Alpes, an immense artificial reservoir which supplies towns and countryside downstream, remains high. At 5 meters below its optimal filling level, whereas, twelve months earlier, it was lapping at – 17 meters.
More than 40ºC in August
What to erase fears? “We tend to forget about water restrictions a little too quickly,” recognizes Gilbert Grasset. The chosen one keeps in mind the heatwaves which marked the summer. On July 10, Saint-Chamas was the hottest city in France. In August, the temperature exceeded 40ºC for several days in a row. And the beginning of autumn flirts, as elsewhere in France, with heat records. “Nature gives us lessons, but, apart from a few lyrical flights of fancy, the public authorities do not do much,” he regrets. In a few days, it will offer members of one of its ASAs a simple cost-saving measure: dry the canals before the usual date. “to keep a larger reserve for next summer”. “I’m not sure if I’m being followed. When you run out of water, everyone says you have to make reforms. But when she comes back, you don’t hear anyone anymore.”he predicts.
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