The Auxigny river crosses the commune of Saint-Martin d’Auxigny in the Cher, a town of 2,500 inhabitants. It has gone through many twists and turns over the centuries. To make agricultural land profitable, it was gradually moved, expanded and above all made linear. The winding watercourse of the Auxigny had until recently even more nothing to do with the original river, it had literally been transformed into a flood highway, to the point that the houses of the village were regularly underfoot. in water. Since 1999, the town had been the subject of six natural disaster orders, with major risks of runoff and mudslides.
Three years of work
To prevent disasters, the town hall and the intercommunal union of the Yèvre valley (Sivi) had the good idea of working hand in hand on a vast renaturation operation. Three years of work which began first with the restoration of nearly two hectares of an old poplar grove downstream of the town so that the Auxigny stream extends back into its major bed during periods of flooding. Then the old abandoned dairy built astride its bed and which prevented it from circulating freely was destroyed and the site decontaminated. The work did not stop there. Then we gave it a shape, a route, which allows Auxigny today to overflow more easily into the fields before arriving at the village. As for its original curves, its sinuosities, they slow down the speed of the water, which now in the event of heavy rain no longer enters the houses. A story of the repair of nature through the intervention of man.
A not so anecdotal story since by returning this river to its natural course, the town protected itself from the dangers that threatened it. It shows that sometimes, instead of the straightness and deceptive performance of the straight line, we must favor the meanders, their whims and their mysteries.
