Drought in France: rivers and rivers struggling
The Gardon river reduced to a trickle in the south of France, under the Pont Saint-Nicolas de Campagnac, a medieval arch bridge dating from the 13th century linking the towns of Nîmes and Uzès.
© AFP/Pascal Guyot
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
This is unheard of since 1976, the reference year for drought in France.
The Loire, which crosses the country from West to East, has reached very low levels and river navigation is struggling on the Boulevard du Rhin.
In all regions, water lookouts are on deck.
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In 1976, in Tours, the Loire was only the size of a modest river.
At the end of June, the president at the time, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, spoke of a "national calamity" to which "national solidarity" had to respond.
This year again, on the Loire, the fishermen, the first observers of the state of the rivers and their biodiversity, are worried.
On the outskirts of Orleans, south of the capital, Mani Fishing, a fisherman is one of the few to have cast his hook into the Concriers canal, in the stifling heat of early August.
Connected to the Loire a few meters further, the water reservoir suffered the same fate as the river: one meter less water compared to the beginning of July, according to Vigicrues, the government information site.
This seasoned fisherman sees the impact of drought on biodiversity every day.
He worries about the condition of the fish.
Listen to Aélie Beaucour's report on the banks of the Loire where fishermen hesitate to cast their lines
Drought in France
During the previous heat wave, the water of the Loire in this place had reached 32°, forcing certain species to take refuge in depth or in the surrounding waterways. Several prefectures such as that of the Côtes d'Armor, in Brittany or of the territory of Belfort, in the East, have also prohibited fishing in their waterways until September.
Still in Brittany, the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine is worried and the waterways are suffering.
The department has been on high alert since May.
Contacted by AFP, the prefecture assures that "seven months generally deficient in rain at the regional level" have been observed since October 2021. This rainwater usually runs off to the dams which constitute 75% of the production of drinking water. in Brittany, and whose resources "for supplying public networks is the most worrying", still according to the prefecture.
Throughout the country, civil servants from the Regional Environment Departments - around 200 people - take measurements and take readings which are sent to the French Office for Biodiversity (
OFB
), and then used to issue prefectural orders. restriction of water use.
►
To read also
: Drought in France: more than 100 municipalities without drinking water
500 km of canals closed to navigation
In addition to drinking water supply, rivers and rivers are also used for navigation.
As a result of this exceptional drought, the water level of the canals and rivers is at its lowest: 500 kilometers of canals for leisure navigation are closed in the east of the country.
On the Rhine, the river that separates France from Germany, cargo ships from Rotherdam are struggling to make their deliveries.
Cécileavezar, director of the Rhône-Saône basin of Voies navigables de France details the difficulties encountered on site, at the microphone of
Théo Renaudon
.
“
There is not enough water to allow the most heavily laden boats to pass.
So boats are asked for a lower level of loading - about a third of their capacity - in order to be able to pass on the whole route.
On the whole of the German part of the Rhine there are no navigation works which make it possible to retain water and therefore the water flows freely to the sea, which means that we observe levels of weaker water.
This has economic consequences that can be significant, because the cost of logistics, that is to say the cost of transporting goods, is necessarily increased since to pass either to import or to export the same quantity of goods, for example you have to pass three times as many boats if you load your boats only to a third of their usual capacity.
»
(and with agencies)
►
To read also:
Drought in France: restrictions and controls are increasing
A partially dried up pond is pictured near Monfort en Chalosse, in southwestern France, on August 3, 2022. AFP - GAIZKA IROZ
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