• Due to the drought, the Loire, the longest river in France, is approaching its lowest historical flow.

  • The lack of water is spectacular between Nantes and Angers, only 100 km from the mouth.

  • The curious even make the trip to see this amazing landscape.

“To see the Loire in this state is frankly distressing.

All this sand, I can't believe it”, react Daniel and Hélène, a couple from Nantes who took advantage of their “last days of vacation” to come and see this “amazing spectacle” for themselves.

It is the largest river in France and it becomes one of the markers of the 2022 drought. Between Angers and Nantes, only 100 km from its mouth where it is nearly two kilometers wide, the Loire is unrecognizable.

Over the weeks, the level has gradually dropped, now sometimes giving the impression that the sandbanks, certainly usual at this time of the year, will completely colonize the river.

In Varades (Loire-Atlantique), in an area where small islands are legion, one of the arms surrounding Batailleuse Island is almost completely dry.

A narrow trickle still flows under the elegant suspension bridge but can now be crossed on foot!

“Global warming, we have it there, before our eyes”

“It's impressive here.

I had never known that.

The canoes barely pass in places.

Further upstream, near Tours, customers even told me that they had to get off the boat,” says Hélène, manager of the Ecoloire campsite located on the island.

The one who is also a tourist guide by trade used to see the curious landed “at the time of winter floods”.

But to observe its suffering river, it is a “new phenomenon”.

Annie, a client of the campsite, admits that she "wanted to see the consequences of the drought" after being surprised by pictures published in the media.

"It's sad, it's even maddening.

The future is bleak,” she comments.

Joël, a local resident, confirms that he had “never seen so many people take” photos on the banks.

“We've been seeing a lot of images of the Loire recently.

It definitely attracts people.

Especially since it's very photogenic with the bridge, just like in Ancenis.

However, I do not recommend walking on the sandbanks, it can be extremely dangerous, ”insists Philippe Jourdon, deputy mayor of Varades (new commune of Loirauxence).

On the other side of the river, in the pretty town of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil (Maine-et-Loire), Mélanie confirms that the water level has become essential in conversations.

"There are regulars who come back every summer and who are very surprised," says this employee of the tourist office.

I spoke about it with former Saint-Florent and they tell me that they had never seen it since 1976. It alarms me enormously on a personal level.

“It's crazy!” adds Clotilde, a cyclist.

The consequences of global warming are there, right before our eyes.

For those who doubted the phenomenon, it is now indisputable.

Let's at least hope that it will be beneficial in accelerating behavior change.

»

An increasingly salty Loire?

Philippe Jourdon points out that navigation has already been restricted this summer.

But it is for the future supply of drinking water that the elected official is worried.

“These climatic episodes could recur.

We have this fear that the Loire can no longer supply our inhabitants.

We see that it is already complicated, we had to make adjustments to the draw.

“Since August 17, the water from the public supply network has been placed in a “crisis” situation by the Loire-Atlantique prefecture.

According to the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), the flows of the Loire could have fallen by 50 to 60% by the end of the century.

“The drop in flow and the rise in the level of the ocean will make the Loire downstream increasingly salty.

The mud plug will be more and more present in Nantes, complicating the supply of drinking water”, estimates the OFB, which also fears “a reduction in the surfaces of mudflats, and therefore of their ecological richness”.

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  • Nantes

  • Angers

  • Drought

  • Global warming

  • Pays de la Loire

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes