France On Drought Alert With Farmers Forced To Reduce Water Use By 50%

France on drought alert with farmers forced to reduce water use by 50% in some regions – Harvest also threatened by recurrent heatwave

Strange Sounds 

Almost all of France is now on drought alert, with restrictions on water usage as the country battles an exceptionally dry summer.

Even the Doubs river has dried out…

Drought is impacting almost the entirety of the country from east to west. Of the 96 French mainland départements, 86 are currently on some level of drought alert, meaning there are restrictions on water usage in place.

There are four levels of alert, beginning with least to most severe: vigilance, alert (yellow), heightened alert (orange), and crisis (red).

Currently 28 départements are listed as in ‘crisis’ – the highest level of alert, with the regions of Centre-Val de Loire and Pays de la Loire appearing to be most severely impacted, as shown in the map below.

Even Brittany, a region that is not typically known for drought or hot temperatures, is seeing much of the region under at least the ‘alert’ or ‘heightened alert’ designation.

The east of the country is also heavily impacted, particularly mountainous areas in Isère.

A considerable part of France is on alert and heightened alert status, meaning water use is carefully controlled.

• Départements with yellow (alert) status must reduce water usage for agricultural purposes by up to 50 percent (or simply prohibit withdrawals up to three days per week). ‘Yellow’ level water restrictions do not only impact farmers – washing your car or watering your garden during the hottest hours of the day is forbidden under this alert, with some water activities also being restricted.

• For those in orange départements, there are stronger limitations for watering gardens, green spaces, golf courses, and washing cars. In this scenario, farmers must reduce water usage for agricultural purposes by at least 50 percent or more.

• At crisis (red) level, all non-priority water withdrawals are halted – only water usage for health and hydration purposes are authorised.

Drought impacts everything from agriculture to tourism to even electricity production and the ability to cool nuclear reactors that power France.

Thus far, towns have seen their taps run dry and farmers worry about their animals, as creeks that once hydrated their livestock shrivel up.

Tourists are also seeing the impacts of drought, particularly those in Charente-Maritime which has has banned outdoor beach showers to conserve water.

For farmers, there is also serious concern about this year’s harvest. “The vines have started to wither, the grapes are no longer growing and the vines are completely blocked. If it doesn’t rain, we’re going to lose a lot of harvest,” explained winegrower Cédric Chiapello to RTL. “With the heat wave and the drought falling at the same time, I think that this will also delay the harvest.”

An agrometeorologist details how the government figures conceal just how badly affected the production of wheat in France has been by the drought and heatwaves…

Tweet’s translation: “Reassuring messages are circulating on the estimate of NATIONAL wheat production. “Only” -5.8% compared to 2016-22 (Agreste). This national figure hides the reality of #[drought] : the figures are much worse at the departmental level. Explanations”

In order to cope with drought this summer in France, water agencies could spend up to an additional €100 million to help agricultural sectors adapt.

Experts once again blame the climate crisis. “The prolonged drought and the recurrent heatwaves are abnormal; Soil moisture is at its lowest level in 60 years,” said Florence Habets, hydroclimatologist and director of research at the CNRS.

The maps below show continued risk of drought across France from this point onward until the end of the summer, indicating much of the country will likely continue to be impacted.