Image of a cornfield in Crannes-en-Champagne, near Le Mans, in 2019. - JF Monier / AFP

It was raining heavily over a large western half of France when the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM) presented its baby. The groundwater specialist has just developed a new tool skillfully called "MétéEAU Nappes" which could better anticipate periods of drought.

While Météo-France has announced that the summer should be hot and dry, this new platform should quickly find its usefulness with the authorities or certain professions very sensitive to the situation of water reserves such as agriculture. Still in testing, the tool will be available this fall and open to everyone.

“It is a project that echoes climate change. In recent years, we have seen more and more drought alerts and more and more water restriction orders published. ” Member of BRGM, Jérôme Nicolas is one of the designers of “MétéEAU Nappes”. Based on daily readings from 1,600 monitoring points, this service is based on a system for modeling readings of surface water reserves, underground and on weather forecasts. "Our expertise allows us to provide three to six month forecasts," says Jérôme Nicolas.

Concerns for the Rhône, Saône and Alsace

This forecasting tool could prove to be invaluable for the prefectures, authorities competent to apply water restrictions in the event of drought. By anticipating possible dry periods, the prefects could increase awareness among the population and professionals and thus avoid drawing on resources even several months in advance. This year, the BRGM is particularly worried about the Rhône, Saône and the plains of Alsace and Lorraine valleys. "The winter recharges were good but they were not enough to make up for the deficit of the previous year", specifies Violaine Bault, hydrogeologist.

Still in testing, the future platform will aim to be accessible to as many people as possible. "The difficulty will be interpretation because it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the geological context to properly analyze the data". In certain regions, the underground aquifers do not fill up until winter but are not very prone to summer drought. Conversely, some territories are more home to so-called “reactive” aquifers, capable of regenerating during a beautiful storm but very sensitive to the droughts of summer.

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