REPORTAGE
It is necessary to go down in the cellar of Josette, 71 years old, to see the pump which feeds her house in water. It has been decades that this resident of Sains-lès-Marquion in the Pas-de-Calais lives with this filtering system. "Water comes from the water table" several meters deep, explains the septuagenarian. She admits to having no health problems. "The water is good, I drink it." But like the 350 inhabitants of this village in the Cambrésis countryside, Josette will have to resolve to set aside this drilling, which will soon be part of the ancient history. It will soon be connected to the future drinking water network. "It's because of the pump, I'm sick," confesses the Sainsoise. "When the pump is down, there is no water, even for toilets, it's not normal," says Josette. "We are still in the 21st century."
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If the mayor initiated this work for the connection to the network, it is because pollution and droughts have degraded the quality of water underground. The investment, supported by the intercommunal union, will cost one million euros, more than half of the municipal budget. "We will pay but we know what we will give our children," says Guy de Saint-Aubert, mayor since 1995, which plays the card of prevention. "Something should not happen and we did not see it coming." The city admits that the water "is degraded". "I would have preferred to say that there is no problem, that water is good for generations, but that is not the case." Nevertheless, recalcitrant residents will be able to keep their individual boreholes, a system that provides water without control, but also without any bill.