Lack of water is a concern for many regions. In recent months, drought has already been felt in many French regions. Fires, water restrictions… A situation caused in particular by a rather dry autumn and winter, during which the rains and snows were not abundant enough. Fortunately, May 2023 turned out to be particularly wet compared to the same time last year, with heavy rains bringing some respite to struggling farmland. The soils were thus able to be watered, bringing the water tables of several departments up to satisfactory levels. Thus, according to the cartography ofDrought Info, 5 departments show filling rates of their water tables considered “very high”. These are Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne, Tarn in the south-west, and Vaucluse in the south-east. Others, such as Ariège, Bouches-du-Rhône, Hautes-Alpes or Haute-Corse also seem a little better equipped to deal with drought thanks to “moderately high” levels of their water tables. Ditto for Cantal, Haute-Loire, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Pas-de-Calais and Morbihan. More generally, Brittany seems spared from a greater risk of drought thanks to well-filled subsoils: Finistère, Côtes-d’Armor, Ille-et-Villaine, but also Loire-Atlantique and Mayenne present levels considered “average porches”. Same thing for Indre-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, Charente-Maritime, Landes, Corrèze, Hérault, or even Southern Corsica.
Is it enough to face the summer?
However, these abundant spring rains, as well as the stormy rains that watered the soil during the month of June, were not necessarily sufficient to recharge the soil in depth. Indeed, from the month of April and the month of May, the vegetation uses a large part of this rain, and for the moment, only 10 to 20% of rainwater feeds groundwater. But some regions are doing better than others. For example, “Brittany has small aquifers. As there were heavy rains in March and April, that was enough to fill them well”, explained the hydrogeology and director of hydrosciences in Montpellier, Patrick Lachassagne. , near TF1 News, Friday May 12, 2023. Elsewhere, on the other hand, the situation is much more critical, and certain departments are sorely lacking in water. At the end of May 2023, the water tables showed critical levels in two-thirds of the regions. At the start of July 2023, 11 departments are thus showing very low levels: Pyrénées-Orientales, Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes de Haute-Provence, Isère, Jura, ‘Indre, Cher, Loir-et-Cher and Bas-Rhin.
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