For the first time, the prefecture and the departmental direction of territories (DDT) of Tarn-et-Garonne drew up a map of water restrictions by municipality. Almost the entire department lacks this resource.
In 2019, the red symbolizing water restrictions in Tarn-et-Garonne was scarlet. Two major episodes of heat wave had dried up the rivers of the department. At the end of the 2019 summer season, the prefecture even had to sound the alarm bell. “We had pumped more than 5 million cubic meters of water in a basin of the Aveyron to avoid the shortage, remembers the tenant of the prefecture, Pierre Besnard. It was an exceptional situation. We have had, since, enough to fill the reserves. But with forecasts of a hotter-than-average summer in 2020 and a structural water deficit, the water restrictions concern more farmers and businesses, individuals. ” The fault according to the prefect to a constant increase in the population coupled with temperatures also rising. “We must empower users who may think that the restrictions only concern agriculture,” says Mr. Besnard, even if in summer, according to DDT data, agricultural irrigation represents almost three-quarters of consumption. of water.
Three levels of prohibitions
To be more “educational” according to the terms used by their officials, the prefecture and the departmental direction of the territories (DDT) have innovated this year with the publication of a map which classifies the level of restriction applying to each municipality. “We are always talking about samples taken in the natural environment from the groundwater via wells, in bodies of water or by pumping from rivers, excluding the large rivers such as the Garonne, Tarn, Aveyron, Gimone and part of the Lère and Tescou ” , specifies Lucie Chadoune-Facon, Deputy Director of DDT. When the city is colored white on the map, there is no restriction. When it is yellow, the restriction level called 1B applies ( level 1A means special surveillance of the DDT services, editor’s note) In orange, the level 2 restriction municipalities and in red level 3. “We want to facilitate the understanding of the decrees taken for individuals, continues the prefect. That they can apply them correctly depending on the town where they live.”
Depending on the classification of his city, an individual must therefore respect the prohibitions on direct debit. Irrigation of vegetable gardens and greenhouses can thus be prohibited in two slots: from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. for level 1B and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the two highest levels. For swimming pools, daily leveling is only possible when the threshold is level 1B. It is prohibited in the other two cases. “You have to use the resource for relevant purposes and perhaps wait a little before washing your car, for example, or accept that your lawn is yellow,” Lucie Chadoune-Facon image. The grass would therefore be greener elsewhere …
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