Futuroscope: Farmers lift blockade after prefect postpones vote on water sharing

The Vienne Irrigators' Association (Adiv), which had filtered access to the park on Friday morning with three agricultural unions (Rural Coordination, FNSEA, Young Farmers) before breaking camp, welcomed this "moratorium on the HMUC (Hydrology, Environments, Uses, Climate) study of the Clain basin.

"Today is a great victory that will have an impact far beyond the department!" the Rural Coordination added in a message on its Facebook account, accompanied by photos of bales of straw and slurry dumped in front of the Public Territorial Basin Establishment, as it left Futuroscope.

Early in the afternoon, the Prefect of Vienne, Serge Boulanger, came to Futuroscope to meet with farmers. He pledged to postpone the vote on the study to "allow us to continue our work and see what can be implemented for the agricultural world, drinking water, and industry," while reiterating that consumption of this resource must be significantly reduced, according to comments reported by Ici Poitiers radio.

The HMUC study's vote was already postponed twice last year, under pressure from irrigating farmers. Its first draft concluded that there was a lack of water to fill the thirty or so "basins"—water reserves for agricultural irrigation created by drawing from groundwater or rivers—planned for the Vienne region, given the current state of resource sharing between drinking water distribution, agriculture, and industry.

The validation of this study conditions public funding for these water retention projects, subject to compensation.

A threat, according to farmers

In a joint statement, the mobilized agricultural organizations estimated that "the vote on the guidelines resulting from the HMUC studies (reduction of abstractable volumes, restoration of wetlands, zero phytosanitary measures in watersheds)" risks causing the disappearance of "entire farms", "starting with those most dependent on water", notably market gardeners and seed producers.

"We're going to lose 27 million euros per year in the Clain basin area. Twenty-seven million is enormous, with a loss of more than 200 jobs in agriculture and the agricultural sectors," declared François Turpeau, president of the Vienne Rural Coordination, citing the conclusions of a socio-economic study, funded by the Department and Greater Poitiers, which had been requested by irrigating farmers in addition to the HMUC study.

The farmers had targeted Futuroscope in particular because it was opening a new aquatic attraction, "Mission Bermudes," and had threatened to renew their action in the coming days if their demands were not met.