Arcachon Basin: by condemning the polluter, justice creates jurisprudence which causes discussion around the Thau basin

La décision de justice rendue à Bordeaux pour le bassin d’Arcachon n’est pas passée inaperçue autour du bassin de Thau. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

Following wastewater overflows in the Arcachon basin, justice has just ordered the union that owns the sanitation network and its manager to carry out emergency work. A decision which has not gone unnoticed around the Thau basin…

It’s a decision that has made people talk in Gironde. But also around the Thau basin.

In an order taken at the beginning of April, the judge of liberties of the Bordeaux judicial court has indeed imposed emergency work on the two structures managing the sanitation of the Arcachon basin , under penalty of daily fines of 1,000   €  !

The Intercommunal Syndicate of the Arcachon Basin (Siba), which is responsible for the project management of the sanitation installations, and the operator SB2A, a subsidiary of Veolia Water , are thus ordered to put an immediate end to all pumping and dumping into the natural environment. " >

"Polluters are not only identified but condemned"

Taken as part of an environmental summary procedure, this decision is one of the first of this nature in France. In the Thau basin, the first reaction came from the Committee of Thau Basin Users of the Water Cycle. "Rarely, the polluters are not only identified but condemned on the Arcachon basin […] A case law will exist…", writes the Committee, which points in particular to the & quot;36 km of unitary networks of the city of Sète which flow into the environment".

After the contamination of the Thau pond with norovirus, at the end of December 2022, the Mediterranean Regional Shellfish Committee (CRCM) ultimately did not file a complaint, nor did it ;rsquo;he had not requested a referral-expertise, a time considered.