French Environment Minister Christophe Béchu has said France’s 100 departmental prefects should be ready to enact quick decrees restricting local water use given alarmingly low groundwater levels in the country.
“We are sounding the alarm given the situation we now find ourselves in, as we near the end of what is usually the recharge period for (underground) water tables,” Béchu said.
The announcement came after Béchu met virtually with prefects on Monday to get a view of the country’s overall water situation as the country experiences its driest winter since 1959.
Rain is expected to fall between now and March 15, and the ministry will check in with prefects after that date to see how the situation develops.
“We are pinning real hopes on the coming days, when rain is forecast over most of France, but not everywhere, and we have serious concerns for the Mediterranean basin and the Rhone corridor,” Béchu said.
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According to government website Propluvia, the Pyrenees Orientales, Bouches-du-Rhone, Var and Ain departments in the south and east of the country currently have yellow or orange drought alerts activated, just below the red crisis level while the Yvelines west of Paris, and Savoie in the east have activated low-level pre-alert “vigilance.”
Bechu said the number of departments with some sort of drought alert would reach 12 before the end of this week.
Hydroelectric production has been impacted by low water levels last summer, a development that led to a forced reduced power output at France’s nuclear plants, which use river water to cool reactors.
There was also an interruption of drinking water in several parts of France, which Béchu said he was keen to avoid this year.
To that end, the minister urged prefects “not to overreact, but to react more quickly” given that even “a delay of a few days” between the official announcement of a drought alert and restrictive measures could make the difference.
A national water resource management plan that was initially expected in January, is now slated to be published before the end of March, the ministry said.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
