In brief
The Poitiers administrative tribunal ordered the ASAI des Roches to dismantle four of five contested water storage reservoirs in Cram-Chaban, La Laigne and La Grève-sur-Mignon, giving the irrigators three years to restore the sites.
The ruling follows multiple annulments of prefectoral authorisations in 2009 and 2018, formal notices in 2018 and 2023, and a July 2025 criminal conviction that fined nine irrigators over €1 million for illegal water use.
Nature Environnement 17, which brought the challenge, called the judgment a significant victory for water protection, wetlands and the rule of law, while the ASAI des Roches announced it would appeal.
The judgment was notified to the Minister of Ecological Transition and comes weeks after a new agricultural emergency law set a target of doubling water storage capacity by 2035, a context the irrigators cited in their appeal.
- 2023Prefect issues a second formal notice for illegal water withdrawals and administrative irregularities.
- July 2025La Rochelle criminal court fines nine irrigators over €1 million for unauthorised water use.
- 23 JulPoitiers administrative tribunal orders dismantling of four reservoirs within three years.
The ruling
On 23 July 2026, the administrative tribunal of Poitiers ordered the Association syndicale autorisée d'irrigation (ASAI) des Roches to remove four of five contested water storage reservoirs, known locally as "bassines" or "mégabassines". The structures, located in the communes of Cram-Chaban, La Laigne and La Grève-sur-Mignon, must be dismantled and the land restored within three years. The court followed the conclusions of the public rapporteur, giving partial satisfaction to the environmental association Nature Environnement 17 (NE17), which had challenged the legality of the reservoirs.
“There is a lack of legal basis for the fifth reservoir, the judgment will be postponed.”
The reservoirs had been used to irrigate 850 hectares of farmland. The tribunal had already annulled prefectoral authorisations for the works in 2009 and 2018. Subsequent formal notices in 2018 and 2023 demanded that the ASAI regularise the administrative situation and halt illegal groundwater withdrawals.
A long legal trail
The 23 July decision is the latest chapter in a dispute stretching back more than fifteen years. In July 2025, the criminal court of La Rochelle convicted nine members of the ASAI des Roches for unauthorised water use, imposing fines totalling over one million euros. That ruling is also under appeal. The repeated annulments and formal notices had not led to the removal of the reservoirs, prompting NE17 to seek a judicial order for dismantling.
Reactions
Nature Environnement 17 welcomed the judgment as a landmark for environmental protection.
“In this period when environmental rollbacks are piling up, the ruling of the Poitiers administrative tribunal constitutes an important victory for the protection of water, wetlands and the rule of law.”
The ASAI des Roches announced it would appeal, arguing that the decision is out of step with national priorities on water supply security and food sovereignty. The irrigators pointed to the recently adopted agricultural emergency law, which sets a target of doubling water storage capacity by 2035.
Clash with new legislation
The court's order was notified to the Minister of Ecological Transition, underlining its political sensitivity. The agricultural emergency law, passed just weeks before the ruling, explicitly encourages the construction of substitution reserves to store water for summer use. The dismantling order therefore runs counter to the government's stated direction, creating tension between judicial enforcement of environmental law and legislative ambitions to expand irrigation infrastructure.