Desiltation of the Rance: silted up but determined

Like every first Saturday of the month, a hundred people gathered for the now traditional march of the ensiled. Since the construction of the Rance dam, sediments have accumulated in the estuary and mud has covered the beaches. “The Rance is an estuary, not a mudflat” sang its residents.

“This place, before, was the Rennes beach, notes disappointed David Boixière, the mayor of Pleudihen-sur-Rance. La Ville Ger is the first beach between Rennes and Saint-Malo, it was fine sand. On Sundays, there were sometimes thousands of people who came to swim, picnic, have a good time… But that was before. Today, there is no more sand. No one bathes anymore.”

Sophie Duquenne – Payne, the vice-president of Rance Environment quickly point out the culprit. The tidal power plant. “Since the construction of the dam, the tides have been artificialized, the stall times are very long. This changed the current, and little by little, the sediments began to settle in the Rance.”

“Entire areas are no longer accessible, the beaches are covered in mud and the channel is almost no longer usable, regrets a protester, it hurts my heart.”

The walkers crossed the town of Ville es Nonais trying to make as much noise as possible in a maximum of good humor. All knocked on cans, banged on saucepans and sounded the sirens.

“It is also to say that there is urgency explains Xavier Châtelet of the Envasés de la Rance collective. We are asking for a long-term de-siltation plan. The scientific council conducts endless research and lets the situation deteriorate. At the end of the Five-Year Plan in 2023, we will have spent 6 million euros for not much, we will have done a lot of studies, a lot of university research, but the mud, it will not have moved! “

“Of the 250,000 tons that were to be removed, only 17,000 have been extracted, we are far from the objectives”, confirms Sophie Duquenne-Payne. And she worries: “It’s a very heavy mud that kills all biodiversity. If this continues, soon, we will have herbus, we will witness a polderization of the estuary and it will lose its maritime character. “

The mayors of the banks of the Rance have come together as a collective. They, too, are asking for the establishment of a long-term management plan and are demanding its funding. Initially, EDF put its hand in the pocket, today, it no longer wants to participate in the costs up to 50%. ‘For us, it’s a double jeopardy, our environment is silting up and we have to pay for it!’ indignant David Boixière.

Everyone hopes things change. In the meantime, the silted up have already made an appointment next month!