The “mega basins” project continues to arouse strong opposition in Deux-Sèvres. The filling of one of the water reservoirs intended for agricultural irrigation, the first of a vast project in the Marais poitevin, is considered “catastrophic for the safeguard of rivers and groundwater” according to its opponents.
Julien Le Guet, the spokesperson for the collective “Bassines non merci”, organized a “visit” on the ground to “see that the Mignon, the river located below, does not flow” after the filling of the Mauzé reserve. -sur-le-Mignon, the only one already built, and while “the tablecloths are at their lowest”.
For several months, a project of 16 reservoirs aims to store several hundreds of thousands of m3 of water for irrigation during the summer. Developed by a group of 400 farmers with the support of the State, they are supplied by pumping surface water tables in winter, when the resource is abundant.
Authorized by the prefecture
The filling of the first reserve therefore started in mid-December, after the regulatory level of the water table had been reached a few days earlier, indicated the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres and the Coop ‘de l’eau, carrier of the project. . A threshold, set by prefectural decree at the end of 2018, and today considered too low by environmental associations and opponents for whom it is “catastrophic management for the safeguard of rivers and groundwater”.
The prefecture relies on its side on a scientific impact study carried out for the project where it is indicated that “the thresholds set for the filling allow not to have any effect on the environment and the aquatic environments”. Also indicating that a sworn environmental inspector present on site on December 14 was able to “find that the Mignon was not dry […] with visible flows”.