Eau d’Heure: chaos on the shores of the lakes

Friday, the mayor of Cerfontaine, Christophe Bombled, took the initiative to close access to Lake Falemprise, on the site of the Eau d’Heure lakes, the only one where swimming was allowed on the territory of Cerfontaine, because of non-compliance with health measures related to the pandemic. On Saturday, the situation at this precise place was rather calm if we except the incessant ballet of cars from Antwerp, Louvain, Brussels or even Lille and Roubaix! All filled with candidates for swimming. And whose passengers, before leaving the scene, worried about finding a “quiet place” to go in the water, “even if we can’t”. Jean, a regular at the place, does not hide his anger: “ It’s used for ? There are people everywhere and they bathe when it is forbidden. We move the problem. By closing here, people go to the Plate Taille where they are even more crowded! “

There, indeed, it’s a hassle. No way to park, there are cars absolutely everywhere, it gives an idea of ​​what awaits us at the water’s edge. And it’s worse than we thought. At 2 p.m., when the shores of Lake Plate Taille are already crowded, crowds are still arriving from all sides. En masse but often without a mask. “ We have to come to this side, explains Jérôme d’Uccle. We went to Falemprise, it’s closed. And at the beach near the aquacentre, there are too many people, it’s impossible. “ Respect for distances? Complicated ! “There are six of us, as a family, and we stay together, but people have come to settle right next to us because there is little room “, says Alain, who came from Walcourt, right next door.

We meet a police patrol, led by the Hermeton and Hour area chief of staff, David Doyen, himself. “ THEIt is more focused on prevention than on repression, because what is stated on the lakes website is different from what the police order provides. We have to fix this before we do anything else. Here, we mainly force people to get out of the water because swimming is prohibited. “, he tells us. Vain thing. As soon as the police have disappeared from view, people return to take a dip. As for the mask, if you take the trouble (and again…) to wear it when you move, as soon as you lie down, it disappears. “ Normal, explains Imes. By this heat, the mask is a real nest of microbes. Keeping it in your mouth is certainly more dangerous than not putting it on.re. “

So ? How will the situation evolve? Alain Vandromme, mayor of Froidchapelle, could follow his colleague from Cerfontaine and have the site closed. “ Obviously, it is the locals, who respect the regulations, and the local traders who will suffer because of people from elsewhere and who do as they please. “, rattle Maxime, of Beaumont.