For five years, Maximilien Lambert has been responsible for ecological transition to the French Golf Federation (FFG). A position which already existed upon his arrival and which is now integrated into a team, with three other full -time employees.
What is the role of the FFG in the management of golf water ?
Our missions are to offer support to clubs. To help them know the regulations, apply it and give them good practices on water management and watering, in a reasoned use process.
Software allows, for example, each of the golf courses to enter their water consumption. It must be seized at least every month to be presentable to an authority that would inspect golf. And at the federation level, these data is compiled to be available to ministries. This allows you to work nationally on figures, areas of progression, etc. As part of the Government Water Plan, we are committed to reducing the volumes of water taken by 2030 by 15 %, compared to 2020.
Since when have the ecological transition and water management have part of the concerns of the federation?
We have formalized this through an environment charter, signed with the ministries of agriculture, sports and the ecological transition, in the 2000s. To collaborate on water management, in particular. When I arrived in 2020, I was almost alone working on the subject with my director and my arrival coincided with the election of President Pascal Grizot, who defined the ecological transition as one of the three axes in terms of federal priority. Now I coordinate a team with three full -time equivalents. We are working on the maintenance of courses, biodiversity and water management.
What efforts is it to be made so that the activity is more sustainable?
About twenty-five golf courses are now connected to unconventional waters. It’s weak. We work with water manufacturers to develop these solutions which are very expensive. For example, to connect a golf course to a wastewater treatment plant located 1 km, the pipe costs approximately 1 million euros per kilometer. Golfs are not all in very easy economic situations.
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