A cart, a mat, a chair, a ladder, parasol bases, paddles, a Velomagg, a printer casing or all kinds of food packaging… The fishing was good, Wednesday morning, in Montpellier (Hérault), for Greenpeace volunteers. Supported by other environmental associations in the area, the local branch of the NGO has launched, with kayakers and divers, to clean up the Lez, the waterway that crosses the city.
“Are you going to clean the Lez?” It could be very, very long! », Smiles a young mountain biker, used to seeing rubbish floating on the bed of the river during his walks. In Montpellier, the problem is not new: yes, the Lez is dirty, loaded with waste, from the simple garbage bag that we do not put in a container and which ends up flying away, bulky as the inhabitants unscrupulous dangle directly in the water.
Filters, waste traps and floating booms
They are, unfortunately, carried by the river to the sea: 12% of the waste found in the oceans comes from rivers, deplores Greenpeace. “The waterways serve as highways for all the waste found in the city, everything that has not been put in the trash, which moves with the wind or the runoff of rainwater” , explains Laure Lesne, Ocean referent at Greenpeace in Montpellier.
To avoid this pollution, there are ways, assures the NGO. First of all, prevention, with the inhabitants, with communication campaigns and the installation of dissuasive plates, “The sea begins here”, on the banks and in the manholes. But not only. “There are also fairly simple systems that could be put in place, such as filtering, waste traps, floating booms,” continues Laura Lesne. We are in the process of studying the matter. Because, with the problem of floods, we cannot install just anything, anyhow. “
“Cleaning up rivers cannot be the only solution”
A petition, “Stop Pollution du Lez”, launched by Greenpeace, has already gathered some 2,100 signatories. She implores the metropolis of Montpellier to act, to curb the pollution of Lez. Solicited by 20 minutes, the community detailed the systems already in place to clean the waterways. The water bodies of Piraeus, Richter and the town hall, the Lironde in Charpak park, the Verdanson, the Mosson and the Rieutor are regularly cleaned, indicate the services of the metropolis. In addition, an anti-waste floating dam has been installed on the Lez, under the Zuccarelli bridge. The metropolis is studying the possibility of setting up a “bubble dam”, with an “automated waste collection device” downstream of the mobile threshold of the Bishop’s mill. Finally, anti-waste nets could be installed on storm outlets.
It should be noted that Greenpeace and the metropolis seem to share the same point of view, as to the solutions to be put in place. “Cleaning up waterways cannot be the only solution to tackling waste. Although there are direct incivilities in waterways, the vast majority of waste comes from public spaces and sanitation networks, ”explains the metropolis of Montpellier. The solutions, continues the community, are to be found “upstream, in waste production and management policies as well as in the management of public space”.