The mayor of a small town on the French Riviera on Friday denounced the excessive water consumption of some prominent citizens of his town, home to Silvio Berlusconi and Albert II, amid a drought sweeping France and Europe. King of the Belgians, having residences.
• Also read: With the drought, many conspiracy theories are resurfacing
• Also read: The fires in Australia have fueled the La Nina weather phenomenon
• Also read: Drought: A French department bordering Spain on high alert
“When I received the list of the city’s top thirty water users, I realized that there were several large plots on it,” Emmanuel Delmotte, mayor of Châteauneuf-Grasse, told AFP on Friday. in the Alpes-Maritimes without naming a name.
According to statements by the elected official in the Liberation daily, which unveiled the information, these people, whose estates extend over 20 or 30 hectares, were “prime ministers, kings, ministers, former presidents of the Council, especially foreigners”.
Among them is Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian head of government, the mayor confirmed to the newspaper.
The period affected by these readings spans 17 weeks, from April to August 2022, when the region was on a drought warning and prefectural decrees ordered individuals to take drastic water-saving measures, particularly when filling swimming pools or watering gardens.
“During this period, however, the consumption of some owners has risen to 17,000 m3 of water or 1,000 m3 per week,” denounced the mayor, comparing this to the “almost 2,000 m3” of the municipal old people’s home with its 120 beds.
In some cases their weekly water consumption is as much as 2000 m3. And their actual consumption is undoubtedly higher, as some private wells have not accounted for, explained the elect official.
If Albert II, ex-King of the Belgians, also appears in this list of major consumers, then only on his agricultural green meter, in particular as a producer of olive oil, but not on his personal meter or the bottling of his swimming pool, Mr. Delmotte insisted. Likewise, the former Belgian ruler assured him that he had repaired the leak in his agricultural pipes.
A certainty: “For such people, fines of 1,500 or 3,000 euros are useless,” notes the mayor. Hence the idea of liaising with the local water management officer, the Suez Group, to discuss and argue directly with these large water consumers.
“We will see if these efforts bear fruit,” hopes Mr. Delmotte and is surprised that he was the only mayor of the 24 municipalities of the agglomeration municipality of Sophia-Antipolis who has spoken out on this subject: “The list of all important consumers were sent to us at the request of the Prefecture. How come I’m the only one who seems to care?