It won’t be like Sainte-Soline. The atmosphere will be “family” and the course “has been declared”. “Anyway, the site is ultra-protected, it’s not in the middle of fields”, announces Robin, for the collective Stop Microphone. This Saturday, at 10.30 a.m., he will meet at Brignoud station, and hope to mobilize as much as in Deux-Sèvres on “this question of the preservation of water and its monopolization for private interests”. In the sights of this collective? The extension of the STMicroelectronics factory and “the threats that this company poses to this resource which is becoming scarce”.
Specializing in the production of chips (semiconductors), this multinational was the center of attention this summer, when Emmanuel Macron moved to the Grésivaudan valley, near Grenoble. The head of government did not come to denounce this “looting of water”, in the words of Stop Micro, but to announce “financial support from the State” for the extension of the Crolles site.
The extension of the factory, the drop too many
“This announcement was received with unanimous enthusiasm from elected officials praising the job creation in this strategy of the French executive to establish itself in microelectronics on the European market”, recalls Robin. But at the same time, he recalls that “the entire Grenoble basin” was at the heart of six weeks “at the highest level of the drought alert” with “restrictions of the resource for all”. Well almost everyone. “The industries were not concerned because, according to the authorities, they were already doing everything they could,” he points out.
This event was the drop too many for the Grenoble. “This project is ecological nonsense,” he argues. He explains: “What the government and the media forget to mention is that this industry requires a lot of rare materials and a lot of electricity and water. According to official data, the Crolles plant of STMicroelectronics coupled with that of Soitec, next door, smaller but in the same field, will use 29,000 m3 of water per day, i.e. the consumption of a city of 160,000 inhabitants, or 700,000 showers or even 12 Olympic swimming pools. »
The collective also made the connection with the Sainte-Soline project. “The multinational will empty this mega-basin in 22 days, intended for consumption over a year,” he says.
“Polluting and wasting the water of the Isère for high-tech goods”
According to the collective, STMicroelectronics mainly uses this water to clean the silicon plates which will integrate high-tech objects. These technologies are then used to create “from the smartphone to the connected car, including medical devices, telecommunications and everyday objects such as vital or bank cards”, to use the terms of the company.
Robin adds: “STMicro makes Grenoble water ultrapure to get rid of ions etc. It becomes unfit for consumption to clean these plates, which contain chemicals”. According to him, the discharged water is then polluted. “We are therefore ready to waste and pollute the water of the Isère for products that are not basic necessities”, he notes.
Goals to recycle water
Contacted by 20 minutes, the company assures that its “industry does not require the use of drinking water” and that “ambitious programs are underway” to recycle the water consumed. “We are mobilized to save, recycle and reuse the water necessary for our production processes and are making continuous progress on these 3 axes. Our efforts have enabled us to recycle 43% of the water used in Crolles in 2022, the target rate for 2023 is 49%”, replies the Franco-Italian company. Before adding: “STMicroelectronics cooperates closely with all stakeholders in the territories to reconcile our water needs with those of the community”.
The collective also denounces this “cooperation”. “We are contesting the factory’s production because, despite promises of recycling, what is certain is that water consumption is increasing. But we are also surprised to see that local elected officials, mayors or deputies, take a stand against the mega-basins at the other end of France but remain silent, or even applaud the looting of water here”, exclaims Robin.
Asked, the Grenoble metropolis had not provided any answers at the time of publication of these lines.