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Four out of five groundwater tables are exceptionally low, according to the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research. It will be difficult to avoid a drought during the summer.
The Hérault, like other territories, suffered the effects of an early drought. A team from France Télévisions went underground, where rainwater normally infiltrates. “We are at around 97% humidity in the cave, and there we have lost 7%”entrusts Sandro Casagrande, the technical director of the Grotte de Clamouse (Hérault), in the “8 p.m.” newspaper on Monday March 13. In eight years, the groundwater level has dropped by 37 meters.
“We will have to stop urbanizing”
AT term, this will weaken the subsoil. The current level of the water table already raises fears of shortages of drinking water during the summer, because several villages depend on it. Seven departments were affected by water use restrictions on Monday, March 13. Pascal Delieuze, the mayor (SE) of Saint-Jean-de-Fos (Hérault) fears several dark years to come. “At the level of the 28 municipalities of the Hérault valley, we have 1,000 inhabitants per year who arrive in the territory. In ten years, we will be 10,000 more. If there is not enough water for everything the world, maybe we have to stop urbanizing.” The threat also directly affects agriculture.
Among Our sources:
Clamouse cave: https://www.clamouse.com/fr/accueil/
Town hall of Saint-Jean-de-Fos (Hérault)
Propluvia: http://proluvia.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/proluvia/faces/index.jsp
Maxime Horgues is a risk management and resilience specialist for Mayane, a private research center on adaptation to climate change
BRGM: https://www.brgm.fr/fr
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