Winter drought is reaching a new worrying level with major consequences for groundwater. Restrictions are implemented in Pyrénées-Orientales, Var, Bouches-du-Rhône and Isère.
France is experiencing a 31st day without real rain. A sad record with dramatic consequences on groundwater. In the region, the Orb river in Bézeirs is already showing a particularly low level for the period, raising fears of the worst for the future.
Four departments have already implemented restrictions. These are Pyrénées-Orientales, Var, Bouches-du-Rhône and Isère. The rains announced tomorrow Wednesday will not solve a recurring phenomenon since 2017, accentuated by a very dry summer 2022.
An unprecedented situation
Images are flooding in on social media to demonstrate the sometimes alarming situation in some places.
Montbel Lake in #arrive #pyrenees is still at an extremely low level for the season! Still no or little precipitation to come in the next few days and in 2 weeks it will already be the end of the meteorological winter u2639ufe0f Let’s hope for a rainy spring! [email protected] pic.twitter.com/0pCFijAQWo
— Meteo Pyrenees (@Meteo_Pyrenees) February 15, 2023
The Montbel dam in Ariège is transformed into a lunar landscape. Without rain on the massifs, the lake will not regain its capacity for several months. To the point that the prefecture of Ariège has already triggered the alert level on Wednesday February 15 by asking users to pay attention to their water consumption.
Early restrictions
The Côte-d’Azur is also very affected by the phenomenon and water rationing could be ordered by the prefecture as early as March if the situation does not change, as underlined by an edifying report from France 2.
The Var is particularly impacted. In Flassans, the Issole is already dry and no longer reaches Lake Carces.
Drought: “It’s a time bomb if the water tables are not replenished by April”, warns an agroclimatologisthttps://t.co/j10oFRcVUa
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) February 18, 2023
distressing images
In Ardèche, at Coucouron, the springs supplying the village reservoirs are dry. The inhabitants are supplied by tanker trucks for drinking water.
In the Sarthe, the water levels are at their lowest. The groundwater level remains dramatically low.
The authorities have called on residents to “control their consumption”.
It is the same thing in Brittany where rainfall deficits are accumulating.
The dry canals of Venice
The drought does not only affect France, in Venice, the canals are dry due to a low tide of exceptional duration.
Italy is experiencing a worrying situation. The island of San Biagio is now accessible by land because of the historically low level of the great Lake Garda.
ud83dudde3 “It’s an unusual but worrying sight”
The drought that is hitting Italy is putting Lake Garda in an extremely worrying situation.ud83dudcfa #franceinfo channel27 pic.twitter.com/FQ8CjKzEsa
— franceinfo plus (@franceinfoplus) February 19, 2023
