In the department of Indre, the rain deficit has been 60% since January. Christian Toussaint, volunteer at Indre nature, has already seen the damage in Châteauroux: “There, we are on a small river, a tributary of the Indre. And even if we hear water flowing there, currently, we have a level which is 80% lower than normal.”
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Despite the recent episode of snow, drought is already threatening a large part of mainland France: Alsace, Alpes-Maritimes, northern Poitou… Some of these territories have already implemented prefectural vigilance orders and fear summer incoming.
In the Indre, rainfall was too low this winter, the water tables are not filled enough, and the rivers have less flow. The recent showers were not enough to reverse the trend. For Christian Toussaint, this situation is due to climate change: “We took 1.85 degrees in 40 years in the Center region and we realized that in fact, we lost between 40 to 60% of the flow volumes in the summer.”
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The fear in this department is the return of the scenario experienced in the summer of 2019: groundwater and waterways were dry. A hundred municipalities in Indre had been declared in a state of natural disaster. A town had even been deprived of drinking water. To avoid it at all costs, associations and communities analyze graphs and statistics every week.
The situation is not reassuring, deplores Rick Vandérarvène, director of the departmental directorate of the territories of Indre: “You see the flow curve at the end of winter for the Bouzanne river which shows that we are already at a crisis threshold.” He tries to anticipate as much as possible “soil moisture, for the flow of rivers and temperatures, we compare them on a series of data.”
“The idea is to inform all users and anticipate to avoid finding themselves in these critical situations and power failure.”
Rick Vandérarvène, departmental directorate of the territories of Indreat franceinfo
In the very south of Indre, the mayor of Sainte-Sévère, François Daugeron, elected to the department, thinks of the work that remains to be done: “Always in the distribution of water, it is absolutely necessary that there is a great work done on the pipes which, often in rural areas, date from 50, 60 years.”
Especially since this drought affects all biodiversity, laments Christian Toussaint: “I lost 50% of my playground. I liked going up streams, studying wildlife, fishing. Everywhere is bad.” The volunteer invites everyone to save water, businesses, residents and irrigating farmers.