How economic model of France's controversial reservoir irrigation system is starting to crumble
Large artificial reservoirs, built for farmers and filled from underground water sources in winter to irrigate crops during the summer, are bitterly opposed by environmentalists and have been a source of fierce debate and sometimes violent conflict in France. The company behind the most controversial reservoir, at Sainte-Soline in west France, has been hit by recent court rulings. But in any case, as a Mediapart investigation here shows, the entire economic model of these vast 'mega-basin' crop-watering systems is now looking increasingly unviable.
TensionsTensions continue between supporters of artificial crop irrigation lakes in France and the environmentalists who oppose them. Two demonstrations faced each other on the evening of October 31st in the city of Poitiers, in west-central France, and defenders of these large-scale water reservoirs even went as far as writing a public death threat against their opponents on a banner.
