The news had until then remained completely confidential at the local level, and it only surprised more. The mayor of La Clusaz, Didier Thévenet (without label), announced, Tuesday, September 5, first to the local daily The liberated Dauphiné, that its municipal council, meeting on August 17 in a private session, had decided on a moratorium on the Bois de la Colombière water retention project. Contested for more than two years, this project, suspended in summary proceedings by the administrative court of Grenoble in October 2022, provided for a basin of 148,000 cubic meters, the equivalent of six football pitches, for a budget of 10 million euros. Two-thirds of its capacity was to be devoted to the production of artificial snow, the rest to the supply of drinking water.
In a press release sent to the press, the councilor then added that this decision did not amount to abandonment at this stage: the preliminary work will not be launched “as long as the judicial decision on the merits of the case has not been rendered” by administrative justice, which is not envisaged for several months, even several years. “I cannot commit an amount of 10 million euros to the withholding, when we do not even know, and by when, whether we will be able to put the slightest drop of water into it”he regretted, considering, moreover, that “case law is not fixed in terms of derogation from protected species”.
“Wise and realistic decision”
On the side of the opponents of this water retention, in addition to the surprise, dominates the relief. In a joint press release, the associations “welcome the wise and realistic decision taken by the municipal council”France Nature Environnement Haute-Savoie (FNE74) specifying, for its part, that it hopes that this decision will be “perpetuated”. “Economically, it was very hard for the town hall to continue on the same path, considers Corentin Mele, water project manager at the FNE74. Ecologically too, because all the signals are now red. »
While communication has long been broken with the elected officials of the town hall, the local collective Fier-Aravis wants to remain vigilant. “We ask that all residents be asked to take part, if they wish to get involved, in a global consultation on the future of the territory”they write in a press release. “The territory deserves this appeasement, abounds the Sauvons Beauregard collective. Let us bet that we can put in place cooperation between all the players in the territory so that the Aravis become the symbol of a possible transition. »
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