the government calls on the prefects to issue water restriction orders “from now on”

He calls to tighten the screw of the taps. The Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, invited, on Monday February 27, the basin coordinating prefects to issue water restriction orders “right now” to anticipate possible crisis situations during the summer. He asked them to bring together the departmental water resources committees by the end of March to issue restriction orders where necessary.

>> Drought: how can France prepare for a (possible) new dry summer?

After having received these prefects who lead the State’s policy in terms of water management, Christophe Béchu said to himself “alarm” by the lack of water in the soil, caused by an unprecedented winter drought in France. In three regions, “Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and South”, “The soil moisture level corresponds to that normally observed at the end of May”, he pointed out. All of the French departments are below normal soil humidity.

At present, four departments are already on heightened alert: Ain, Isère, Bouches-du-Rhône and Pyrénées-Orientales. A figure that will inevitably climb, warned Christophe Béchu. Last summer, “We have had up to 700 municipalities affected by drinking water problems. If we do not take measures upstream, we run the risk of having an even higher figure next summer and on larger territories” with larger conurbations affected, he warned.