Persistent drought in southern France: ‘This time, it’s brutal’

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1. **For the past two years, the region has been suffering from a structural water shortage. Scarce resources are forcing farmers to adapt their practices, and could lead to a review of land-use planning.**

   Daniel Aspe picked up the plastic bottle with the neck cut out and lay down on the forest floor. The mayor of Escaro, a small village in the French Pyrenees, plunged the worn object into the manhole dug in front of the water inlet that supplies his village, and timed how long it took to collect two liters: 14 seconds. He then performed a calculation he knows well, multiplying the seconds by 24 hours: The flow rate was still a little too low for the daily consumption of the 80 inhabitants. “Although we don’t wash to save water,” said the elected official, joking to overcome his concern.

   On that late April day, the sun glinted gold on the mountainsides. A few filaments of snow streaked the peaks, while lower down, the Mediterranean vegetation held out. Here and there stood skeletons of broom and holm oak, so tough yet so thirsty. With the recent tramontane northern winds, the local fire and rescue service had warned that the risk of fire was at its highest.

   Although the light-saturated panorama is magnificent, it remains almost unchanging: For the past two years, the clouds have only passed surreptitiously, without stopping, from the high cantons to the Roussillon plain. The rainfall deficit reached 60% in some months, and the snowfall 75% in 2023. Prefectoral decrees restricting water use have followed one after another without interruption since June 2022.

   **Read the full article here:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/04/29/persistent-drought-in-southern-france-this-time-it-s-brutal_6669833_114.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/04/29/persistent-drought-in-southern-france-this-time-it-s-brutal_6669833_114.html)