The Clamouse cave, in the Hérault gorges, has forged scientific partnerships, particularly on the issue of water management. The descent deeper and deeper into the entrails of the cavities to fetch the reserves, shows the very worrying drought that is currently rife. Reporting.
“There, here under our feet, we really see the loss of water for the past five years, the date of the last flood… The humidity, we don’t even see it on the ground when normally it was present all the time .I am worried about the crystallization of the cave”.
In the underground cavity, Sandro Casagrande, technical director of the Clamouse cave, a famous tourist site at the entrance to the Hérault gorges, leaves the handrail securing the visitors’ route, branches off and rushes into the bowels of the earth.
Read also :
Drought: why do groundwater tables not fully recharge during rainy episodes?
At the deepest. To fetch water. An hour of descent, of scrambling between the stalactites and the blocks of calcite is necessary to reach this human limit where a mini translucent lake lives on. It is receding centimeter by centimeter with each blow of the climate change, which reduces precipitation.
“In three weeks, we lost 1.20 m”
You now have to descend 120 m below the mountain to find the network of the underground river, the equivalent of groundwater, the water reserve anyway. Sandro Casagrande observes this in the middle of this month of May: “in three weeks, the level has dropped again, we have again lost a good 1.20 m” he said. How to measure it? A simple cord had been laid during his previous exploration of the site. It’s not the storm of the day before that changes anything. A big ten millimeters fell. “It would take ten times more” blows the specialist.
“Over eight years, we have descended in depth over more than 37 m… It is very worrying for the economic, agricultural or even hotel activity of the territory” Sandro Casagrande analysis. He contemplates the place illuminated by the light of his helmet: five years ago, no one had ever come to this cave, with the sole exception of the speleologist Franck Vasseur, but with diving bottles…
Water from underground reserves further and further to fetch.
On its small scale, the place illustrates the crucial question of this “white gold” which is dwindling in our departments. Here, the water arrives when it rains on the rocky massifs 30 km away as the crow flies and 6 km from the local source of the Drac. It infiltrates through the cavities which will fill up just like the water tables. “VSthere are pockets of water, everything fills up normally, regularly and automatically like a water tower, with precipitation of 120 to 200 mm, there…” continues the speleologist.
“Last year 58% of tablecloths used, this year 73%”
“But for people, as long as there is water coming out of the tap, there is no water shortage! We are seen as whistleblowers sometimes, but we have a virtue, we are classified as a scientific site, we do not allow ourselves to say anything: last year we used 58% of groundwater, this year we used 75% for daily use, agriculture, swimming pools …” develops the technical director. There is the lack of rain and the effect, too, of official pumping and unfortunately many “savages”.
Clamouse has established partnerships with the CNRS and the explorations are also intended to trace the hydrogeological system, this underground water network, to better understand and apprehend the water resources of the territory, in conjunction with the Department. To work on a better connection to the municipalities. And then, in addition to observation and research, there is also information.
The approximately 100,000 annual visitors are made aware of the water cycle and of these concretions and other aragonites that need it. Under penalty of breakage and collapse.
“The cracks on the walls of the houses, it will happen more and more”
“The more drought there is, the more recurrent it will be, the cracks on the walls of houses, it will happen more and more” warns Sandro Casangrade. Finally, there is exemplary behavior and small daily gestures.
Read also :
Drought: “We can only watch the house crumble!”, because of the cracks, they are afraid for their home
“This year, over the whole season, we will save 120 m3” he announces when it’s time to go back to the surface where visitors are thronging. “For example, we collect condensation water from the air conditioning to wash the floors, or we collect water from the dryer to water. While waiting for the rain, we all need to have better management to preserve the resource”.
2023-05-20 06:55:32
#water #tap #people #shortage #deep #drought #wreaking #havoc #Hérault
