Ophelie Artaud
modified to
09:32, August 11, 2022
As water is running out in France, due to the drought affecting the whole country, Christiane Lambert, president of the FNSEA, returned to the question this morning at the microphone of Lionel Gougelot on Europe 1. According to her, ” we must be better managers of water when it falls in torrential rains”, in particular by storing it better.
While drought is affecting all of France and water is running out, with more than 100 municipalities deprived of drinking water, can the agricultural world make even more efforts to save water? Christiane Lambert, president of the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), returned to this problem this morning at the microphone of Lionel Gougelot on Europe 1. “We can do more. For 20 years, we have improved the yields of 30% without using more water. Thanks to research, we can have varieties that are more adapted and more resistant to drought. With changes in practices, by sowing earlier, we can continue to save water, but we must also rely on technology with probes that allow you to adjust the irrigation as well as possible”, she explained.
“We must be better water managers”
“There is also winter water storage,” she insisted. Present this Wednesday on the fire of Baugé, in Maine-et-Loire, where 1,200 hectares burned, Christiane Lambert alerted to the interest of these water reserves. “The firefighters present on the ground all say the same thing: ‘we are running out of water reserves’. There is only one reserve to pump nearby. You have to be better at managing the water when it falls in torrential rains and that the water tables can no longer absorb them,” she insisted.
According to her, “we must change the regulations and the state of mind. Two water reserves were broken last night in Vendée. Criminals destroyed them and caused the loss of more than 500,000 m3 of water”, a- she denounced, wishing “that the investigation be carried out and that there are exemplary sanctions”. Before recalling: “water is for food and the maintenance of biodiversity but also for firefighters when there are phenomena of megafires as there are this year and as we will see again. I said to Christophe Béchu, the Minister of Ecology, to meet with us in the fall and to rest the debate to implement the decisions of the Varenne de l’eau, concluded on February 1. France must change its attitude, “Other countries save a lot more water than us. We are late,” warned the president of the FNSEA.