Rocks, pebbles, a few dead fish… But no water. For several kilometers, on the Franco-Swiss border, the Doubs river no longer flows. And she’s not the only one. From Auzance (Vendée) to Argentalet (Côte-d’Or) via Moulin de Layat (Puy-de-Dôme), a quarter of the small rivers are now dry, an unprecedented situation since the start of national monitoring in 2012, alerted the Ministry of Ecological Transition this Monday, July 13.
These asecs are just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath our feet, certain water tables are also emptying at high speed: on July 1, the water table map published by the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research turned dark orange in the Grand Est and central France, a sign that water levels are “low” after a month of June marked by little precipitation and two weeks of exceptional heatwave.
Four alert levels
Faced with the seriousness of the situation, 98 departments are under surveillance for drought, a record since at least 2013, the government site VigiEau alerted this Monday. In detail, four alert levels exist and do not necessarily concern the entire department under surveillance.
The first, “vigilance”, does not imply restrictions in the use of water. The authorities can simply encourage users, both households and professionals, to reduce their consumption. Thirteen departments, located mainly in Provence, Picardy and Normandy, were affected on Sunday.
The three higher alert levels involve water restrictions. In the 16 departments on “alert” and the 27 on “enhanced alert”, agricultural samples are reduced, as is consumption in areas deemed non-essential, such as watering gardens and golf courses, washing cars, water activities… A good part of Brittany and the former Rhône-Alpes region and Lozère were among the territories on “alert” on Sunday, while Jura, Vosges, Poitou and Réunion were on “alert” on Sunday. heightened alert.”
Avoiding water supply disruption
In departments where water resources are even more scarce, prefects can declare a drought “crisis”. When this maximum alert level is triggered, the use of drinking water is reserved for priority areas such as health, civil security, drinking water and sanitation, and farmers can no longer irrigate their crops. As of July 13, the drought “crisis” already concerns 42 departments.
By taking these drastic measures now, the prefects hope to avoid the worst: a disruption in supplies. A situation which already concerns five villages in Doubs and two in Côte-d’Or, obliged to have water delivered by tanker trucks.
