While 93 French departments are affected by water restrictions, most golf courses benefit from an exemption to continue to water the greens. Like environmental protection NGOs, the mayor of Grenoble Éric Piolle had pointed out this authorization in early August. At the Stade Français golf course in Vaucresson, in the Paris region, the greens are always watered, but the rest of the grounds are burned by the sun.
With our special correspondent in Vaucresson, Antoine Gallenne
Under a blazing sun, the pitch’s grass, usually a sparkling green, is now just a distant memory: most of the grass has burned away. A golfer however hits a few balls: “ Obviously, I’d rather it be maintained as usual, if only for aesthetics. It’s much prettier when the grass is green, that’s for sure “.
Maxime Trombetta is the golf course’s gardener and has never known such a summer: ” We stopped watering the fairways. There are about seven hectares which are not watered, which are completely burnt. All upstream work is dead “.
Only part of the golf course is always watered: the green, or 3% of the total area. Despite everything, the subject of watering remains sensitive at the moment: ” I can understand people who don’t understand why we water at all. But all year round, it requires a lot of maintenance. To maintain the greens, they must still be watered a minimum », explains Maxime Trombetta.
For his part, Antoine Gatet, vice-president of the France Nature Environnement association, is campaigning for stopping the watering of golf courses: “ When we are collectively facing a big crisisaren’t there certain activities that have to be stopped completely, and in particular activities like these which are not essential activities, which are leisure activities which cost a little more than others. »
According to the French Golf Federation, only 20% of golf courses collect rainwater to water the grounds.
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