Around fifty French municipalities without drinking water, which is concerned ?

Regularly prey to Despite drought, the Pyrénées-Orientales department has around fifty French municipalities under pressure in terms of drinking water.

The Pyrenees-Orientales department on maximum alert. Voilaà why, the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu is expected to attend Perpignan and Canet-en-Roussillon this Wednesday, May 22 to present its resilience plan in the face of crisis. drought. In total, around fifty municipalities in the department are affected by the lack of drinking water, which represents around 35,000 inhabitants in the area. . 

12 municipalities in "total or partial" of drinking water

Among the municipalities "under tension", "we already have some; twelve who are in total or partial rupture " of drinking water confides Christophe Béchu in the columns of L'Indépendant. "Two-thirds of these fifty municipalities have leakage rates higher than  35 %, when the national average is " 20%. We have in our sights nine communities in the department whose leak rates are higher than the average. 50% and on which we will prioritize work with the Water Agency. he continues. In fact, drought also causes considerable damage to agriculture. The volume of the last harvests was, for example, less than 100%. 30% à those of last year.

A project for Argelès, Saint-Cyprien or Canet-en-Roussillon

To try to answer this question these different issues, help French municipalities which already have not done so. more drinking water & provision in this spring of 2024 and those which should quickly be impacted at the same level, the government has decided to to release an envelope of 10 million euros to support seven different projects. "Three concern the reuse of wastewater " Argelès, Saint-Cyprien and Canet-en-Roussillon. The other four relate to water supply infrastructure: securing the Agly downstream networks, remote management & agrave; the plot on the Corbère canal, work on the Perpignan canal and renovation of leaking infrastructure Ille-sur-Têt" confides the minister in the daily.

A community wastewater reuse project urban development of Perpignan and the establishment of a vineyard irrigation network in the Aspres are also planned. Finally, Christophe Béchu wants to lift the veil on the drilling problem. Some are undeclared and pump water without authorization. "On this subject, the first point is to ensure that existing drilling is regularized and that new projects are banned that we don't see clearly" he explains in L'Indépendant. Systematizing TV and television meters could make it possible to better take into account the resources available in a particularly in need department. prey &agrav; drought, and to understand the future with greater hindsight, particularly for possible housing projects in these areas .