While the “worst drought ever recorded” affects all of France, the inhabitants of certain municipalities are already short of water on a daily basis. In Cornimont, in the Vosges, some houses are still supplied by springs, communal or private, which are beginning to dry up. The city must therefore deliver water from the network.
50 liters of water per day
“With 50 liters of water a day, we are very, very, very careful about everything”. In the heat, in her garden, Michèle Gasser, a resident of the heights of Cornimont in the Vosges, lists the tricks that she and her husband have put in place to save money.
No more than 10 liters for a shower, we recover the washing water from the vegetables to put in the gardens, the water from washing hands on the plants…
The house is supplied by two private sources: the first, which is used to supply the toilets, has already been dry for a month, so we have to make do with the recovery of rainwater. The second, drinkable, is used for everything else. But for several weeks, the couple must do with 50 liters of water per day. Despite tricks and constant attention – they even installed a water meter to check their consumption – they sometimes have to buy bottled water. “To renew the source, it would have to rain at least for eight days in a row” explains Michele.
– Mary Dorcet
Water delivery twice a week
Some residents of the commune no longer even have a drop coming out of their tap. For fifteen days, the town hall has already done seven water deliveries from the network for houses usually supplied by a communal source. “Usually, when it happens, it’s mid-August, end of August, even September. There, we have a big month in advance” explains Aurore Calvi, deputy mayor.
For some houses, it is 1,500 liters which are delivered twice a week. “For a family of four, who I know are very careful, it lasts about three and a half days” explains Nicolas Humbertclaude, city agent, who loads the cistern and will fill the residents’ tanks.
– Mary Dorcet
A complicated situation both for the inhabitants, who must anticipate their filling requests, and for the technical services which must organize themselves upstream. Not to mention that, if the network is still powered at the moment, it must be constantly monitored. “Currently, the main station of Planfaing provides us with 175 cubic meters of water per day; for Cornimont, we need about 480. So it is the boreholes of the Travexin site that make up the balance” explains Yannick Arnould, the head of the water service. He too realizes the drought earlier and earlier.
We had already gone down to 170 cubic meters in 2018, but that was October 26. We have a small margin; the slightest leak could make the situation very complicated.
In an attempt to alleviate this drought which has been setting in for several years now, the town of Cornimont hired a hydrogeologist last year. By the fall, he will have surveyed the town’s water resources in order to take stock and propose improvements to consumption and storage.