What is this whitewater basin project in Saint-Martin-Vésubie?

• In August, the deputy Eric Ciotti announced, during the feast of Saint-Roch in Saint-Martin-Vésubie, a project to build a whitewater stadium.

• Since this announcement, several people have questioned the feasibility of this project.

• In reality, this announcement was perhaps a little premature, the project being only at the “idea” stage, according to concordant sources.

She denounces "a simply irresponsible project" and maintains that the Vésubie valley, bruised by storm Alex, "is not a playground".

Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, president of the EELV group in the Nice Côte d'Azur metropolis, has been upwind since an announcement by Éric Ciotti, on August 15, during the patronal feast of Saint-Martin-Vésubie.

According to the deputy, an “artificial whitewater basin of 4,000 m2” could be built from 2025 in this village still devastated by the flood of October 2020.

The complex could accommodate nearly 40,000 people per year for leisure, tourism, high-level sports such as kayaking, rafting or paddle.

"A madness" at this location, according to the ecologist.

"Learn from the lessons of the past"

“It would be built on the exact spot where the natural disaster was most devastating.

People have lost everything, houses, land, relatives, recalls the elected.

We must take into account the lessons of the past: if there has been a flood one day, there may be others, all the more so if such a project is carried out on the major bed of the Vésubie.

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This equipment would be built under the Vesubia Mountain park, a sports complex deteriorated by bad weather, to have its climbing wall in common, "in compliance with the rules of flood protection" explained Eric Ciotti, according to the elements collected by BFM TV .

The company Hydrostadium, of the EDF group, was even mentioned by the parliamentarian to ensure its realization.

Asked by

, Eric Ciotti did not wish to speak, the whitewater stadium being "in the state of a simple project".

“He will do it once he has permission to start it,” slips one of his relatives.

Same reaction to the mixed union for the development of the Vésubie and Valdeblore valley which carries the project and which did not want to share the plans broadcast by other media in August.

Because according to concordant sources, this file would only be at the stage of “feasibility with all the services concerned” and “no impact study has yet been carried out”.

Understood: this project should not even have been mentioned publicly.

Contacted by

, the prefecture thus confirmed "that no request has been made to date" for a whitewater basin in Saint-Martin-Vésubie.

If no one can get any information, it's simply because there isn't any.

“In any case, for this basin to really see the light of day, the State services will be intransigent in terms of the risks”, reassures a resident of Saint-Martin-Vésubie.

A story that makes waves

For Jacques Damy, an engineer from the town, “this basin is interesting and makes sense”.

“It's probably a good idea, especially because the stadium will be protected from excessively violent floods from the Boréon by the riprap created from the Vesubia.

Another Saint-Martinois summarizes this project as a “new activity” of the sports complex.

He adds: “In my memories, it is even a proposal that comes from 30 to 40 people from the village after the storm Alex.

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The engineer, who was present during the presentation of the file in August, still wonders about the system that will be used and the consequences on the ecology.

He is not the only one to wonder and find that this announcement lacks information.

This is also the case of several Internet users of a forum entitled "French-speaking site of white water", of which a member clearly exposes "his opposition" as "practitioner of white water in a natural environment".

One thing is certain, without even being official, the announcement of Eric Ciotti will have caused a stir.

The departmental section of the national movement for the fight for the environment even wrote at the end of September to the president of the Departmental Council and to the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes to denounce this project, which it considers "too much water consumer".

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