France is suddenly discovering what has been well known for decades south of the Pyrenees: a drought. More than 100 cities in France have been left without their own reserves of drinking water and are being supplied with tanker trucks, something unusual in that country, accustomed to its mighty rivers and frequent rainfall. “There are municipalities in which the pipes are completely dry & rdquor ;, The minister explained the Minister of Ecological Transition and Sustainable Development, Christophe Bechuduring a visit to Roumoules, one of the affected areas, on the Côte d’Azur.
Roumoules is on the Mediterranean slope of France, but the drought is not unique to that region. It also affects the provinces north of the Loire, the river that divides France between north and south.
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“The exceptional drought that we are currently experiencing is depriving many municipalities of water and it is a tragedy for our farmers, our ecosystems and biodiversity&rdquor ;, the country’s prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, said in a statement last Friday. But the problem reaches even beyond those three areas. The drought, in one of the most nuclearized countries in the world, has a direct impact on electricity production. The plants are located next to the rivers because they require a huge volume of cold water to keep them running, a process that also causes a large loss of flow through evaporation. three centers, Tricastin, Golfech and Saint-Albanhave already stopped their activity due to the drought.
That climate change could cause droughts was already on the agenda of French politics. What was not foreseen was the speed with which it happened. In the affected areas there are already restrictions to irrigate golf courses, to fill swimming pools, water gardens and wash cars, and in Paris the first level of alert has been decreed to limit water consumption.