It was installed at the end of January with the ambition of “repairing the water in Ille-et-Vilaine”. Just constituted, the Bretillian water conference set up by the prefecture comes up against a major problem. Its objective of presenting “29% of water bodies in good ecological status by 2027” seems impossible to achieve.
Currently, only 3% of the surface waters of the department are spared from pollution. Even with drastic decisions – which doesn’t appear to be the preferred course – it will take years for the middle to get rid of the excessive amounts of nitrates that have tainted its rivers and lakes for decades. In the shadows, some are fighting to defend nature against repeated attacks on the environment. A silent fight that aims to condemn the polluters. Not easy.
Lactalis condemned for pollution in 2019
It was a beautiful summer day, in 2017. A dark day when the Cuttlefish took on an abnormal green color, suffocating all the life it sheltered. Six tons of dead fish had been fished out of the polluted waters of the river which irrigates the south-east of Ille-et-Vilaine.
Two years after the pollution, the Lactalis group had been fined 250,000 euros, together with 70,000 euros in compensation. A small victory for the seven associations which had brought civil action, in a legal battle opposing it to the milk giant. “It was a good step forward. But in my view, it remains insufficient in relation to the damage suffered. In the case of Lactalis, we are talking about environmental crime. Because the company has taken risks for the environment”, regrets Brieuc Le Roch, lawyer within the association Water and rivers of Brittany.
Quality of the rivers in the catchment area of the #Ugly (11,000 km2): S-metolachlor, the herbicide used for corn, is detected in 97% of surface water analyses; 79% of rivers tested exceed the regulatory threshold#Water #Pollutionhttps://t.co/YAxt1zQaoG
— OSUR-Observatory of Sciences of the Universe Rennes (@OSURennes) July 12, 2021
Before the criminal court, the behemoth of the food industry had kept a low profile. First, because the responsibility of its dairy factory in Retiers had been clearly established. But also because it had taken forever to worry about it. “In the first days, they had arrived with a landing net and a canoe to pick up the dead fish. And above all, they did not stop the rejection. Not because they couldn’t, but for economic considerations,” says Thomas Dubreuil.
Make polluters pay
This lawyer based in Vannes specialized in water pollution, no doubt inspired by the scale of the Erika trial when he was taking his law lessons. It was he who defended the fishing federation against Lactalis. But it also tracks other targets than industrialists: offending farmers, communities that let their wastewater treatment plant rot…
“Our objective is to send a strong message to polluters, to show them that it will cost them less to invest in order to modernize than to pay a huge fine. Especially since environmental law is very well endowed. It won’t help to reinforce it. What is needed is that it be applied”. The probable absence of a trial in the case of the pollution of the Châteaulin methanizer (Finistère) is an example of “what must not be done” according to environmental defenders, who demand that the culprits explain their methods.
“Every day, people report pollution”
For several years now, associations for the defense of nature have been able to organize themselves to form a “network of sentinels” capable of alerting the authorities in the event of pollution.
“It is very important to characterize the offense. Sometimes it’s quite simple. When a slurry pit leaks, you know very quickly where it comes from. Sometimes it’s much more complicated, ”sums up the lawyer.
The major concern is that the means are lacking. And it’s screaming. “We have calls every day from people who report pollution, spills. But we are only an association, only volunteers. The problem is that the administration no longer responds, ”regrets the lawyer from Eau et rivières de Bretagne.
The glaring lack of state resources
The administration in question is called the OFB, for French Office for Biodiversity. This environmental police must enforce the rights of nature over an area of 500,000 km² with 1,700 field agents. Each of them must “monitor” hundreds of kilometers of waterways. Impossible.
“We have no choice but to prioritize because the requests are pouring in but we don’t have the staff to respond to them. We have to select our missions,” explains Benoît Pradal. This OFB agent comes from the National Office for Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS) which merged in 2020 with the French Agency for Biodiversity (AFB) to become the famous OFB. “The objective was clear, they wanted to save money. The agents were not trained for certain missions. We are overloaded with work,” explains the national secretary of the Force Ouvrière union.
A poultry farm authorized by the prefect but challenged by the court
He works in Savoie, where he must track down the cement factories that pour concrete into the rivers. In Brittany, his colleagues bend over backwards to try to identify pollution but also to prevent it, in particular by giving technical advice on requests for farm extensions. Are they listened to? “Not always,” he says. The prefect is not required to do so. »
This was the case in Langoëlan (Morbihan), when the prefecture authorized the extension of a farm which provided for 120,000 poultry. An authorization canceled by the administrative court of Rennes which considered that “the impact studies were insufficient” in view of the scale of the project. “That’s the problem with green algae. We are targeting farmers, but it is the State that has given the authorizations to set up in already saturated environments”. In its damning report, the Court of Auditors had pointed out the lack of means allocated by the State to fight against the phenomenon. The glaring lack of means of the agents is a perfect example.