Water from Toulouse’s largest swimming pool pumped out to save young trees
Since Thursday, water from the largest swimming pool in toulouse, the summer Nakache swimming pool (one of the largest in Europe) is pumped. The complex, located on the island of Ramier, is closed to the public, like every year at this time. Usually, the swimming pool is drained and its dechlorinated water is released into the Garonne.
This time with the heat wave and the summer drought, the municipality had the idea of recovering water for its road service which provides street cleaning, mechanized sweeping and for watering green areaspublic gardens, the filling of ponds.
The water could also be used for firefighters
The water could also be used by the firefighters of Haute-Garonne, in their fight against fires, in the event of a major fire. Since July 28, a prefectural decree has prohibited municipalities from watering green spaces. As a result, this pumping operation is a salvage for some saplings.
“You have to save the young trees that are in danger of dying”
Five pumps are in action, submerged in the main basin of 150 meters by 50, with a depth between 1m20 and 1m80. Pumps connected to trucks with a capacity of four to eight m3 of water. In total, the Nakache swimming pool contains 6,100 m3 of water! The operation is expected to last until the end of next week.
François Chollet, the elected official in charge of ecology, sustainable development and energy transition in Toulouse explains that there is a real threat to the young trees, recently planted by the city, they especially drought after a scorching summer:The idea is to reuse the water from the swimming pool to fight against the mortality of young plants, to limit this morbidity”.
“We will use this water, occasionally, to water our public gardens continues François Chollet. The water will be used for watering mainly trees less than three years old, on the Ramblas des Allées Jean Jaurès for example, in the Montaudran district where trees have been planted. The water will also make it possible to fill the basins of the Japanese garden of Compans, of the garden of plants, where there are fish.
This is the first time that the water from the summer swimming pool has been reused in Toulouse, a first which could spread during the annual emptying of the other swimming pools in the city.
As part of its revegetation plan, the city plans to plant 100,000 trees until 2030, or 10,000 each year.
The Nakache swimming pool welcomed 83,440 visitors this summer, the aquatic complex as a whole 130,000 visitors.