Environment: The battle for scarce water in France has begun

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The tap opens, but nothing comes out: about 40,000 people in France are without drinking water at the end of a hot summer. Environment Minister Christophe Béchu recently said that almost 200 municipalities, mainly in the south, needed to be supplied with tankers or bottled mineral water. In almost two-thirds of the areas, the groundwater level is lower than usual and Béchu warns: “The crisis is not yet behind us.”

Farmers and wine growers also complain about a lack of water. Authorities have regulated the irrigation of agricultural lands, gardens and sports stadiums; filling swimming pools is taboo, just like washing cars. A battle for scarce food and water has begun.

“All this clearly bears the hallmarks of climate change: the decrease in available, untappable water has begun, by 10 to 40 percent,” the minister told the newspaper “Libération”. This is a consequence of the temperature increase.

The government wants to take countermeasures with a water plan that will be presented at the end of March. By 2030, all sectors must use ten percent less water. Savings are necessary because climate change will cause approximately 30 to 40 percent less water to be available in 2050. Once a certain level of consumption is reached, the price of water will increase and more water than before will be reused; this share is so far low in France.

In the southern department of Pyrénées-Orientales, the wine growers’ association fears the worst grape harvest in history due to the drought in these weeks. There was a risk of “30 to 40 percent losses” in the vineyards, the local association’s president, David Drilles, told broadcaster France Bleu. “It’s dramatic.”

Some winegrowers expected losses of up to 80 percent. Rain and irrigation facilities were inadequate. And where departments have imposed restrictions on the irrigation of agricultural areas, environmental police officers visit farmers and ensure that they do not pump too much water from the ground.

Large agricultural companies in France are preparing for climate change and agriculture with less water with so-called ‘mégabassines’. These are water storage basins the size of several football fields in which rainwater is collected for dry periods. Environmentalists are taking action against the mega projects and consider them unecological.

A demonstration at the construction site of a giant swimming pool in Sainte-Soline in western France with thousands of participants ended in a violent confrontation with police months ago. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin then spoke of “eco-terrorists”. The judiciary has temporarily lifted a government ban on the environmental movement in question.

The fronts in this water war remain hardened. During a multi-day protest march from the provinces towards Paris in August, opponents of the ‘Mégabassines’ also destroyed a golf course.

The accusation: Large amounts of water are needed in the summer to keep the approximately 700 golf courses in France green and playable in the summer. The association of professional golf course operators countered that the courses’ water use had already been reduced and that drinking water was only used to a small extent for irrigation.

The ban on filling swimming pools is also painful for many people in France, one of the countries with the most private swimming pools in Europe. In the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the south, the sale of above-ground swimming pools was even banned, and a municipality in the south also banned the construction of new swimming pools for five years, due to the lack of water.

The result is not only ruined swimming fun: the restrictions would also harm the swimming pool industry, trade association FPP recently complained. Orders worth two million euros were lost. However, climate change is also increasing the demand for private swimming pools in the northern half of the country.

(SDA)

Source: Blick