Nine boreholes, including one at a maximum of 80 m, were authorized by the prefecture within the close protection perimeter of the Issanka source which supplies Sète with drinking water. And this with a view to the construction of the LGV between Montpellier and Perpignan, phase 1 of which should start in 2029.
Two bad news have arrived in recent days for detractors of the route of the future Montpellier-Perpignan LGV (LNMP) through the Thau basin. Firstly, Carole Delga who supports a project she says,“major for the inhabitants of Occitanie and for the economic future of our region”, announced in Free Middaythat the work between Montpellier and Béziers will begin in 2029. A progress in the construction site which is already materialized by a prefectural decree of last April 8 the prefecture which makes the landerneau jump in the landerneau. That’s the least we can say. The text authorizes “by derogation from the bans on construction and drilling provided for in article 6 of the prefectural decree of December 9, 1988 as amended […] to authorize the additional investigations proposed by SNCF Réseau”. In other words, the realization of “three destructive reconnaissance surveys with casing at the advance of a maximum depth of 80 meters near the geophysical profile; the realization of two core drillings of 20 meters depth; the realization of around fifteen destructive boreholes of 1 to 1.5 m depth distributed over the outcrop zone or failing that, infiltration pits“.
“An unacceptable political choice”
An aberration according to Laura Seguin, elected opposition official for the City and Sète and the Agglo who denounces “a serious decision”, in contradiction “majeure” she recalls with the declaration of public utility for the protection of the Issanka source, located in several municipalities and supplies Sète with drinking water, dating from 1988. “High-speed transport infrastructure is therefore today authorized to take precedence over our water resource. This is an unacceptable political choice. No credible alternative solution exists to replace this resource,” she denounced a few days ago in a press release dated April 11, as did the committee of users of the Thau basin, water cycle. The elected Nouvelles Pages also points out the negative opinion issued on October 22, 2025 about these drillings by the office of the Local Water Commission (CLE) of the SAGE of the watersheds of the Thau lagoon and the Ingril pond, then chaired by Michel Garcia, former vice-president of the Agglo.
A motion presented to the Sète municipal council
He recalled in his letter addressed to the prefect at the time, François-Xavier Lauch, as part of the investigation prior to environmental authorization for phase 1 of the project, that the preparatory work, i.e. nine surveys, described in the file presented by SNCF Réseau “are incompatible with orientation C of the Sage of Thau-Ingril”. In other words, with the preservation of local fresh water resources and the securing of the water supply in the territory of the 14 municipalities. “This opinion was not taken with a damp finger, but based on the guidance of the Sage (water development and management plan), a document that goes above the Scot and the PLU! You should still know that in the protected area, even a sheep cannot graze because of the risk of pollution from its urine and excrement!”says Michel Garcia, who followed the case at the CLE. Moreover, he specifies, he intervened once again last January in a meeting in the prefecture on the consequences of the drought. “The decree was already in the pipeline and I expressed the disagreement of the CLE”. “What annoys me, insists the former elected representative of Villeveyrac, it is that the prefect sits on local democracy, the CLE is the water parliament, there are people from all sides, from the State elsewhere, and the decisions are taken unanimously, through compromise and not compromises.” From there to saying that the prefectural decree of April 8 would be challengeable in court, there is only one step, he said. The opposition group Nouvelles pages pour Sète drafted a motion to demand the “strict compliance with the DUP of 1988” which will be presented to the Sète municipal council on Monday April 20.
The prefecture says it wants to “acquire more data on hydrosystems”
In addition to the preparation of the site, in particular the construction site, the Hérault prefecture justifies its drilling authorization order despite the protection of the perimeter of the Issanka source, by “the need to acquire more local data on the functioning of the different hydrosystems before being able to decide on the feasibility of the LNMP project without risk of quantitatively and qualitatively altering the Issanka catchment field during the works and exploitation phases given its vulnerability”. State services also believe that these drillings “upset” not “general economy” from the DUP in 1988 “at this stage of the project”. This was not the opinion of the Agglo when it also opposed this drilling request from the SNCF. Florence Sanchez, mayor of Poussan, where the railway viaduct should be installed, supported this position. “They want to do surveys in relation to the pillars of the viaduct which we do not yet know where they will be placed, but the subsoil is limestone and if they go too deep, they can touch this layer and the source can be polluted.”
Leave a Reply