(Paris) For the third month in a row, about two-thirds of French groundwater tables remain below seasonal norms, fueling drought and threatening water supplies. A situation that should not improve as the summer heat sets in over the country.
“Since last summer, the aquifers have not recharged. […] We remain with 68% of the tablecloths which are below normal for the season “with 20% where they are” very low “, announced Tuesday the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu on France Inter and during a press conference.
A month ago, we were at 66%, compared to 68% two months ago.
This relative stability, at the end of an alarming winter, because very low in precipitation, is due to the spring rains: if they arrived too late to really recharge the water tables, the vegetation absorbing the majority of the water since April, and that most of them fell on soils that were too dry to really infiltrate, in some areas they prevented the situation from getting worse.
We are therefore overall in a slightly less alarming situation than last year: it is “a little better” in certain places such as Brittany, but also “a little worse” in others such as the Rhône corridor, a wide part of the Mediterranean rim, the Paris basin or the plain of Alsace, explained the minister.
Heat wave and thunderstorms
The Geological and Mining Research Bureau (BRGM), responsible for monitoring groundwater, is due to publish the full figures on Wednesday afternoon.
France therefore remains “in a situation of vigilance” underlined Mr. Béchu and July could prove to be decisive as to the evolution of the situation.
Last year, it was partly the lack of precipitation – 88% water deficit – which plunged France into an “exceptional summer”, with 700 municipalities deprived of drinking water.
If we have this year “a comparable month of July, we will go to days that will be complicated” in terms of water, warned Christophe Béchu, adding that “we cannot exclude new difficulties” of food in water this summer for certain municipalities.
However, for the past few days, the mercury has continued to rise: on Tuesday, nine departments are on orange alert for the heat wave after a month of June which was the second hottest ever recorded in the country.
High temperatures favor the evaporation of water and tend to increase withdrawals from groundwater, deteriorating their condition.
Storms are also expected in 17 departments, but these rains are generally not very effective or not at all effective in recharging groundwater.
Vigieau
This drought does not only concern France: almost half of Europe and the Mediterranean rim (49.2%) already experienced this situation for the period from June 11 to 20, according to the European Drought Observatory (EDO). This is a little better than last year at the same time (52.4%).
In France, according to data from the Propluvia site analyzed by AFP on Tuesday, 26.4% of French territory, compared to around 35% at the same time in 2022, is under a water restriction order (18.1% on alert , 6.3% in heightened alert and 2% in crisis where water is reserved only for priority uses).
On Tuesday, the government announced the launch of a new information platform for the French, “Vigieau”. It must make it possible to find the current restrictions at a given address, this information being until now communicated in decrees of the prefectures.
An application ridiculed by several opposition politicians. “Water use conflicts are acute. The situation requires deep structural changes: agriculture, industry… And the government stigmatizes individuals and offers them an app, ”tweeted Sophie Bussiere, spokesperson for EELV.
“Maize cultivation consumes one in five liters of water in the country. Has the Minister planned a major Sorghum plan since the droughts of last summer? No, but he has an “app” to explain the restrictions to French people. Long live the start-up nation! commented François Ruffin, LFI deputy.