France drought update: all but two departments facing restrictions or warnings on tap water use
Tap water usage limited in at least one commune of most departments
All but two departments in mainland France have issued warnings or restrictions on tap water usage, as fears of a historic summer drought intensify.
Only the Lot and Maine-et-Loire departments remain unaffected, with all other departments seeing at least pleas for households to be cautious over water usage (14 departments) if not restrictions (80 departments).
There are already 33 departments where at least one commune is facing crise level alerts, the strictest and where all but essential tap water usage is banned.
A further 28 are on alerte renforcée (the second-highest level) with 19 on alerte, meaning some restrictions are in place.
It means now that some 85% of mainland departments have restrictions in place in at least one commune.
Note, the map below is accurate to 12:30 on Tuesday (July 21), and conditions may change.
As a reminder, this map covers only tap water usage, and rules often apply at a communal level, differing across departments.
You can use the government’s VigiEau website to check for exact restrictions near you, as well as limits on well and river water usage.
Read our article here for more information.
