“In my town, this year, I have citizens who almost apologize for having a swimming pool.” At the end of the line, Nicolas Garcia, mayor (PC) of Elne, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, has a little embarrassed laugh. Since March 6, in this city of 9,400 souls, a renewable decree signed by the city councilor prohibits individuals from any new drilling or construction of a swimming pool. These restrictions are in addition to those issued by the prefecture, which prohibits until April 30 from watering the lawns, cleaning your vehicle (except in the car wash) and filling individual swimming pools. “As the situation has not improved – on the contrary, even given the lack of rain – we will no doubt have to renew these restrictions, explains Nicolas Garcia. I find it hard to accept the construction of swimming pools when we are struggling to water the allotment gardens of the city.”
With only 28 millimeters of rain accumulated over the month of March, i.e. 2 times less than normal, the precipitation is largely insufficient, according to Météo-France, to fill the suffering groundwater tables of the department. Currently on “enhanced alert”, the Pyrénées-Orientales could go into a “state of crisis”, a stage where water withdrawals for agriculture are prohibited. “When I took the decision to ban the construction of swimming pools, no one held me accountable: everyone is aware of the problem”, assures Nicolas Garcia. The commune of Elne is all the more sensitive to this as four villages to the east of Perpignan are deprived of drinking water. Not a drop has flowed from the taps since April 14. Conversely, in municipalities where water is still an abundant commodity, the attention paid to private swimming pools annoys more than one. Filling up on the sly, refusal to comply with regulations… For many, giving up their pool remains unthinkable.
The French, European champions
Hardly surprising: the French are the European champions of the private swimming pool, and even the second in the world (behind the Americans)! At the end of last year, France had 3.2 million private pools, or 1 for 21 inhabitants. With less than 2.5 million swimming pools in 2020, their construction has jumped in favor of containment. “The period changed habits by amplifying the relationship to home, notes Sandra Hoibian, from the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Credoc). The French people wanted more to develop their interior, to invest symbolically and financially.” DIY, gardening and… swimming pools have therefore experienced a boom since the Covid. “Owning a swimming pool, even of a modest size, means having the assurance of being able to receive members of your family and friends within the framework of a protective bubble”, analyze Jean-Laurent Cassely and Jérôme Fourquet in their essay France before our eyes (Threshold).
The cities where they are most numerous are obviously located in the South of France: in Aix-en-Provence, for example, there are 6,000 swimming pools (for 13,000 inhabitants) but not only: as noted by Jean-Laurent Cassely and Jérôme Fourquet in their book, “few territories have actually stayed away from the trend: the two Alsatian departments, Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, are covered with more than 10,000 swimming pools each…” A multiplication largely permitted by the democratization of the swimming pool market: according to the figures given here again in France before our eyes, it will be necessary to pay between 20,000 and 40,000 euros for a pool buried in concrete formwork and around 5,000 euros for an above-ground swimming pool. Not to mention the inflatable pools, which, if they were not counted in the number of declared water features, nevertheless require several tens of liters. Swimming pools are so popular that they have become an issue for the tax administration. After an experiment carried out in nine departments last year, the tax authorities will extend their aerial photo monitoring system to identify undeclared pools. On April 19, Jérôme Fournel, Director General of Public Finances, explained to West France hope to flush out between “80,000 and 100,000 swimming pools”, or “a recovery amount of 40 to 50 million euros in 2023”.
Multiplication of reality TV shows
Proof of the attractiveness of the French in this area, reality TV shows featuring swimming pools have multiplied in recent years. Of the pool kings, broadcast on 6ter, channel of the M6 group, at Incredible Vacation Homes, programmed last summer on Gulli (from the same group), via My dream pool on RMC Découverte, these productions focus on building the new Franco-American dream: having your own private pool, from the most low cost to the most grandiloquent. On Facebook, the groups of enthusiasts are legion: “Piscine Conseils & Tip” (3,000 members), “My above-ground swimming pool” (221,000), or even “Auto-construction swimming pool” (121,000). By reading them, we understand that, despite the context, the French are not at all ready to sacrifice a part of this domestic happiness. “When the rich make an effort, we can come and see the others, comments Morgane in a message about water restrictions. is for the kids!”
In the Marne, where, from the end of March, several areas were placed in state of alertness dryness, Walter, 36, strongly agrees. This inhabitant of a small village near Reims built his “hard” swimming pool at the end of the first confinement, three years ago, and obviously has no intention of giving up the pleasures of the big bath. “At the moment we don’t have water restrictions, but we had some last year,” he recalls. The department of Marne had been placed on heightened alert, which had led to restrictive measures applicable until October 31: a ban on watering lawns and vegetable gardens between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. water, swimming pools included. “I didn’t take it into account!” swaggers Walter. ‘evaporation.”
Reproaches and denunciations
Walter assures that “all [ses] neighbors do the same”. They are not the only ones: in Cavaillon, in the Vaucluse, a resident remembers that the decree issued in July by the prefecture had not stopped some of them. “It had already come quite late, which meant that everyone had filled their swimming pool, remarks Timothée (name changed). Then, it didn’t stop anyone from upgrading their swimming pool a bit. It seems so little, especially when, like us, we don’t lack as much water as elsewhere.” But this attitude is not universally appreciated. “Last year, we observed that many people were filling their swimming pools , at night, or with a very discreet little hose”, remembers Dominique. For his part, the man, at the head of a diving association in the Nièvre with a pool of “50 cubic meters”, ensures only use rainwater to top it up.” This didn’t stop us from having remarks from people who criticized us for wasting water, or letting it evaporate. Some of our neighbors have been reported for filling up their pools on the sly.”
In Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the mayor, Marie Costa, remembers having received “denunciations by anonymous letters on the use of water” last year. This year, water police officers are even patrolling the department to check that the restrictions are being complied with. If a resident is caught in the act, he risks a fine of 1,500 euros. “In reality, apart from the usual slingers – the two or three strong heads who refuse to apply the restrictions – people understand that we must save water”, relativizes the mayor.
0.015% of national water use
In these municipalities where blue gold is becoming a rare commodity, the question of filling swimming pools is rarely debated. “When you’re in a time of crisis, it’s obvious that you can’t fill your pool just any old way,” agrees Joëlle Pulinx, general delegate of the Federation of Pool Professionals, before tempering: “The All swimming pools in France represent 0.015% of water use at the national level.” In this period of drought, the federation is reactive to maintain the good image of swimming pools. Following the publication of his decree, the mayor of Elne, for example, met two swimming pool specialists from Perpignan, a high place of activity in France, in order to better inform them about the real consumption of private pools. “We are no longer in the 1970s, when we consumed 73 cubic meters of water for an average swimming pool, continues Joëlle Pulinx. Today, we are more at 39 cubic meters, and we only fill it once. time.”
Professionals in the sector insist: better informed, the French would use less water to fill their pools – which would ultimately make their water consumption almost derisory. “If a household uses 150 cubic meters of water per year and only renews the water in its swimming pool every five years, its consumption increase is only 6 to 7% per year”, it is estimated. at the French Office for Biodiversity. That is relatively little compared to the volumes lost each year in leaks from the pipe network. “It seems anecdotal, but it’s only theory: individuals can just as well change their water once a year. And there is a real question of acceptability.”
Difficult to fill your swimming pool, when the vegetables from the neighbor’s garden are giving up the ghost. A drop of water, but a drop of water that counts.