Interview by Chloé Lagadou, edited by Gauthier Delomez 8:30 p.m., February 27, 2023
A drought in February worries farmers and also the mayors of municipalities already affected by water supply problems.
This is the case of the municipality of Arlanc, in Haute-Loire, which had to call on a specific technique to meet the needs of its inhabitants.
In Arlanc, a village in Haute-Loire, the inhabitants now get their water supply thanks to... a tank truck.
Due to a historic drought, and while the month of February should be one of the driest in France since 1959, some municipalities are forced to take unprecedented measures.
"Situations of drought, we usually know them in the months of August-September, at the beginning of October. On the other hand, we did not have a drop of water", regrets the mayor of the commune, Jean Savinel, at the microphone from Europe 1.
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In normal times, precipitation allows the surrounding springs to recharge with water.
Which is currently not the case.
"We had 800 mm of rain annually, this year, we are painfully at 480", he underlines.
A water deficit of 50 to 60 m³/day
For the mayor, "this rainfall deficit means that at present, we have a water deficit which is 50 to 60 m³/day".
After having drawn up this alarming observation, Jean Savinel details that the community "had to acquire a tanker truck to make trips, to fetch water from the outside municipalities which have enough of it".
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“We are really waiting for the rain”, finally launches the mayor of the village, dreading a next summer even drier than the previous year.
It is moreover to respond to the fears of the municipalities concerned, and of farmers, that the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu met with seven prefects who coordinate the seven large basins of the country, this Monday, to set up a future drought plan.