The Ballastières rehabilitation project in Toulouse is a project as delicate as it is complex. It is one of the most polluted sites in the Pink City, and it has raised concerns and questions for several decades.

tons of explosives

Why is the Ballastières site at the center of many concerns? Quite simply because under this space, which includes four ponds, naming 4,200 tonnes of nitrocellulose powder. Their presence dates back a century, since they have been submerged since the end of the First World War. But, as the Haute-Garonne prefecture has repeatedly reminded us, these powders “do not explode in the open air and are without risk for local residents and the environment”. Indeed, nitrocellulose” is not solvable in the water and is not a chemical pollutant.

A file closely followed

The file was followed closely, until the highest spheres of State. While he was Prime Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve announced in 2017that the clean-up work would have carried out in 2022. One of his successors, Jean Castex, state of his concern on the subject in correspondence addressed to Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse, in November 2020.

On January 25, 2021, Etienne Guyot, regional prefect, chaired an initial monitoring committee, dedicated to the rehabilitation of the site. For its part, the Ministry of the Armed Forces, responsible for this Installation classified for the protection of the environment (ICPE) has carried out the rehabilitation on April 27 of the same year, with a preparation phase first, and then an implementation phase.

Three “pilot” test markets were notified in June 2022namely work carried out over a reduced period and volume, using samples of powder present on the site. The monitoring committeecarried out by the prefect, was to be carried out for the third time in the fall of 2022 to share the results of the three pilot test markets.

Valuable discoveries…

The first major lessons are to be learned from the naturalist studies generated in the spring of 2021. “Beyond the presence of new species on the site (red squirrels, reptiles, amphibians), the environmental wealth is growing rapidly”, indicates the prefecture of Haute-Garonne, Tuesday, December 6, 2022. All these steps have “made it possible to specify the potential methods of intervention for destocking operations”.

“The studies made it possible to know all the environmental richness of the site of the gravel pits. It was essential to properly measure the preservation actions to be carried out and to be able to now determine the intervention scenarios which will be stopped according to the results of the tests in progress. innovative processes to clean up the site. I would like to ask the representatives of the Ministry of the Armed Forces for the quality and seriousness of their action. The gravel pit rehabilitation project continues to move forward.”

Results also given by Francois Cholletvice-president at Toulouse Métropole, who explains that “this new step has made it possible to highlight all the wealth of fauna and flora present on the Ballastières site: this is good news”.

For its part, the prefecture recalls the major objective: “to allow rehabilitation while ensuring the complete security interventions and preserving native plants, the many designated species and their habitat and hunting areas”.

… and work soon to be completed?

The next few months will be just as decisive as the second half of 2022. “Studies related in particular to the knowledge of hydrogeological functioning of the site are in progress and should end in the first half of 2023 “, announce the services of the State in Haute-Garonne. “Innovative processes processing-destocking are under review, with results expected in the first half of 2023.

The coming year will be pivotal. “It will make it possible to integrate all the results of the various studies from the preparation phase and the pilot tests to establish the specifications of the implementation phase contract rehabilitation works”, continues the prefecture. The next steering committee will take place in mid-2023. The works themselves should start in 2024.

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