A large part of France, in particular in the eastern half, is at risk of suffering another drought this summer. – PATRICK GELY / SIPA
It’s go again. The year 2020 has already been the hottest on record and its driest summer since the start of Météo-France’s measurements, with several episodes of heatwaves. The situation in 2021 is already “quite exceptional”, while the summer has not even started, indicates Violaine Bault, hydrogeologist at the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research in charge of groundwater (BRGM).
According to their forecasts published on Friday, a large part of France is at risk of suffering another drought this summer. The groundwater situation has already deteriorated in the spring, due to a “very dry” season. And the heavy rains in May did not reverse the trend. “It’s been three months since it rained. All the water was used to moisten the soil and feed the vegetation, very little water reached the groundwater, ”explains the hydrogeologist.
East particularly affected
As Météo-France forecasts for June-July-August temperatures above normal for most of France and less rain than normal, the summer of 2021 is also likely to be the scene of a new drought, such as four previous years.
Thus, the BRGM has classified the water tables of the Alsace plain, the corridors of the Saône and the Rhône, and the Mediterranean coast as a “very high” risk of drought. Many other aquifers are at “high” risk, particularly in Brittany and in the center of the country. On the other hand, the risk is low to very low in the Paris basin and in the Aquitaine basin.
Likely restrictions on water use
The Ministry of Ecological Transition had published last month its drought forecast map which evoked a “very probable” or “probable” risk of drought for almost the entire territory, with an emphasis in particular on the Mediterranean coast and the Rhone valley.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
“That does not necessarily mean that there will be drought orders, but we suppose that there is,” commented Violaine Bault. Last summer, nearly 90 departments issued orders imposing restrictions on water use.