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While the Têt and Agly basins have been placed in a crisis situation, the department must avoid a “water war” and prepare for the future.
By Geraldine Woessner
Shortage. In Bouleternère, the Boulès is dry. In April, the village no longer had access to drinking water.
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Reading time: 12 mins
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Ihe pushes aside the yellowed leaves of a peach tree, rolls the fruit in his fingers. Dry, hard – barely larger than a walnut. At the foot of the hills of the Aspres massif, in this fertile plain of Roussillon, Alain Margalet watches his orchard dry up, not far from the Château de Corbère, with Mount Canigou in the background. Apricots, peaches, nectarines… It is only authorized to water them drop by drop, but the carpets of weeds that the organic farmer leaves between the rows are not enough to retain the humidity. Until the end, he will have hoped for the rain. The apricot harvest should start soon, the seasonal workers are here. About fifteen workers, who will have to be well paid, are busy thinning the peach trees, leaving only the largest fruits on the branches, in hope…
Pierre MéRIMée/RéA FOR “LE POINT” (x5)