the department on drought alert

On foot in the bed of the Agly (Eastern Pyrenees), François Toulet Blanquet, director of the mixed syndicate of the Agly watershed, never saw that at the end of winter. Each week, it counts the dried up rivers. Since June 2022, the Pyrénées-Orientales have been on drought alert. We have to deal with the shortage. In the department, the water no longer runs in half of the irrigation canals. Those that supply individuals are closed by prefectural order. This year, the river flow is much lower than usual. Only professionals have the right to take samples, but only two days out of four.

A semi-arid climate sets in

In the Rivesaltes valley, they are a little better off thanks to a well built by the elders and pampered like a treasure. Every morning, they cross their fingers and measure the amount of water they will be able to share each in turn, three times a week. For 50 years, Joseph Sirach, an arborist, has been recording the weather every day whenever it rains in Rivesaltes. “Since I’ve been doing annotations, I’ve never been this low. […] We’re at the bottom of the hole”, regrets the producer. He is not very optimistic, no one in the family will take over. The semi-arid climate that is taking hold in the region is expected to last.