6

In the media, the construction of basins to hold water gives rise to a Manichean debate, like nuclear power and pesticides: you have to be for or against. No half-measures: you have to choose sides. This makes it difficult to defend an intermediate position, which involves sticking to the facts and having reservations. Yet objective opinions would calm the debate, because reality shows that nothing is simple, that no two basins are alike, and that the extreme “pro-basin” position is worth no more than its extreme “no-basin” counterpart.