ENGLISH TEXTS
a subsidy and all the piping was installed between the racecourse and the treatment plant, crossing the river. We worked on this for years and spent around € 140,000, funding studies … In the end we gave up because the authorities demanded a full year of water analyses before possibly granting a final green light. It seemed unreasonable to invest without knowing whether we could complete the project.” Two major racecourses have picked up the baton of studies and dense administrative files. The Cagnes-sur-Mer project seems very advanced. The racecourse lies between the treatment plant and the sea— where the treated water is discharged— and the pipes even run through the site!“ The idea is to retreat this water— destined to be released into nature— purify it as much as possible, and water our tracks with it,” says administrative director Thomas Roucayrol.“ A very strict set of rules has been established: no watering during the day, nor if there’ s wind, nor in the presence of the public … When the project gets the final necessary authorizations, we’ ll have to go through a six-month test phase during which we’ ll draw the water, treat it, analyze it— but not use it. All of this has a cost, but we have to go through it to secure our future.” If the Côte d’ Azur racecourse brings its project to fruition, the water won’ t be“ cheap,” because treatment and analysis procedures will remain heavy. It will cost almost the same as tap water— but with a positive environmental impact. A similar project is underway at Chantilly, where France Galop— as well as golf courses and other sports grounds or municipal technical services— would like to use water from a large treatment plant that is currently discharged into the Nonette. Clara Morvan, technical director and engineer of the SAGE( Water Development and Management Plan), supports this innovative project.“ This water is already of very good quality; it’ s a pity to discharge it when it could irrigate France Galop sites or golf courses and then be reinfiltrated into our territory’ s aquifers. Instead of drawing from those aquifers, we’ d be recharging them! But the regulations are still very onerous for this kind of project.” The cost of additional treatments— ultraviolet among them— that the water would need cannot be borne by France Galop alone, hence the interest in partnerships with local authorities or companies. All stakeholders would like the project to move quickly, as the tenyear abstraction permits granted to France Galop and other irrigators will be reviewed in the near future …
SPOTLIGHT ON IN- NOVATIVE IDEAS
At Lyon-Parilly, a constructed wetland Parilly is the first racecourse in France to be certified as a refuge area by the LPO( Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux). This is thanks to a constructed wetland— i. e., natural filtration— created in 2023 to purify horses’ wash-down water.“ On average a Thoroughbred is hosed down five or six times on a raceday, which amounts to thirty to forty cubic meters per meeting,” explains Lyon track manager Romain Garin.“ This water is now directed to a constructed wetland designed with the LPO. It’ s a fairly small area— barely fifty square meters— fenced off. There are charcoal filters, pozzolana, etc. The water goes through several cycles and ultimately infiltrates our storage tanks. The LPO advised us not to plant anything and to let vegetation establish naturally, which it did— with reeds in particular. Now the system is up and running, we filter fifty cubic meters a day without using electricity.” The wetland has become a fantastic biodiversity zone.“ In the first year we recorded region-typical frogs; the following year, newts we had never observed at the racecourse. The population of barn swallows has doubled because the
# 12 160