The sale of above-ground swimming pools will be prohibited in the Pyrénées-Orientales, in the south of France, from next week, announced the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu on Friday at the microphone of RTL. This decision is taken “in order to avoid having people who buy swimming pools and who would then have the temptation to fill them even though this filling is prohibited”, explained Christophe Béchu.
The announcement comes at a time when “crisis” measures, including new water restrictions, should come into force on May 10 in this department affected by an exceptional drought. “It’s not a government decision, it’s the reality of nature and the situation we are in, we have to get used to the idea that global warming is now,” said The Minister.
This “crisis alert level”, the highest, will concern “the territories of Têt and Agly”, two rivers crossing part of this department bordering Spain, the prefect announced last week, after a meeting of the Local Water Resources Committee. “This department lives in anticipation what some of the departments around the Mediterranean are likely to experience,” said Christophe Béchu on site last Thursday, during a Hydrological Anticipation and Monitoring Committee (CASH).
