It was hot, very hot. Very, very, very hot even at the start of the week in Rennes. Everywhere, the vegetation, like the population, suffered, suffocating by more than 40 degrees. An exceptional heat wave which reinforced an already very complicated situation on the question of water. On drought alert since the end of May, Ille-et-Vilaine even went into “enhanced alert” on July 18 on the decision of the prefect Emmanuel Berthier. Consequence: In some areas, the watering of lawns, gardens and stadiums is completely prohibited, even at night.
In Rennes, where the situation is a little less catastrophic than in Saint-Malo, it remains authorized but not during the day. It was therefore with a little astonishment and a lot of anger that some local residents discovered that Stade Rennais was watering the lawn of its training center in the middle of the day on Tuesday when the temperature flirted with 30 degrees.
“An internal hiccup”
Alerted, the association Eau et Rivières de Bretagne went on site to see. “We had had testimonies of watering in the afternoon for a few days. Even though it is strictly forbidden,” explains Pauline Pennober, project manager for water policy.
The photo taken Tuesday, July 19 by the association shows the automatic watering of a plot of Piverdière at 3:30 p.m. “There were a few small waterings during the day. It’s an error on our part, there was a hiccup internally. There is no manifest will on our part, ”explains a spokesperson for Stade Rennais. “Since yesterday, all the watering of the Piverdière and Roazhon Park is done at night”, promises the club.
The situation had already occurred, especially on the sidelines of Steve Mandanda’s presentation on July 11 when the lawn at Roazhon Park was irrigated in the middle of the afternoon. The prefectural decree prohibit watering during the day was already in force. “We are waiting to find out if the club has an exemption but we are considering filing a complaint”, explains Eau et Rivières de Bretagne. When asked, the football club was clear. “No, we don’t have an exemption. We are going to engage in discussions with the city and the prefecture because these lawns are our working tool. »
No rainwater harvesting system
In addition to being prohibited, watering during the day is above all purely useless since the water sprinkled on the already very green lawns evaporates in a few moments. For effective watering, irrigation should be done early in the morning or late in the evening. At present, Stade Rennais has no rainwater recovery system and waters with drinking water. A more virtuous project is proposed as part of the extension of the Piverdière training center.
The drought is particularly worrying this year in Ille-et-Vilaine, where the rainfall was 20% short this winter and even 20 to 40% in the spring. In the north of the department, the availability of water resources for the production of drinking water “is clearly deteriorating”, alerts the prefecture, which warns. “In the absence of sufficiently heavy rains, the outlook for this sector is worrying with a risk of a water cut in late autumn currently estimated at 50%”. “We must all compel ourselves, all lead by example. Otherwise, we won’t have any more water at the end of the year,” assures Pauline Pennober. His association reported the facts to the water police.