Drought: water use restrictions in 87 departments

The government will allow about sixty reservoirs of water from 2019 to 2022

The French government will authorize the establishment of a "sixty" of reservoirs of water in the territory between 2019 and 2022 to better manage the irrigation of agricultural lands, increasingly affected by droughts, said Thursday the minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume. "We are not going to watch the rain fall from the sky for six months and look for the other six months of the year," defended Mr. Guillaume on the set of CNews Thursday morning. "It's about capturing rainwater, holding it in" hillside "reservoirs, (…) so that it can be returned to the soil when there is drought," he explained. .

Water use restrictions can be of three levels:

– Alert: reduction of agricultural levies less than 50% (or ban up to 3 days a week), measures to prohibit valve maneuvering, water activity, prohibition at certain times of watering the gardens, green spaces, golf courses, washing his car.

– Enhanced alert: reduction of levies for agricultural purposes greater than or equal to 50% (or prohibition of 3.5 days or more per week), greater limitation of levies for watering gardens, green areas, golf courses, washing cars, … until the ban on certain samples.

– Crisis: discontinuation of non-priority levies including levies for agricultural purposes. Only levies to ensure the exercise of priority uses are authorized (health, civil security, drinking water, sanitation).

7 departments in vigilance

In addition, 7 other departments are placed in vigilance. In these departments, measures to inform the public and encourage individuals and professionals to save water are put in place.