France’s waterways continue to suffer in drought

France’s rivers and streams (petits cours d’eau) reached very low levels by the start of August, with some special measures being taken to ensure that water supplies to towns are maintained.

An estimated 25% of streams were dry by the end of June, according to the Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) which has had an agency monitoring petits cours d’eau since 2012.

By August another 554 streams were dry, bringing the total to 43%.

Many of the small waterways dry up each year.

This particularly impacts streams that were straightened (as opposed to left in their natural, free-flowing state) under a programme to improve agricultural water access, which was carried out with French and EU funding until the mid-1990s.

Minister for Ecological Transition Monique Barbut confirmed this following a crisis meeting about France’s ‘exceptional’ summer drought in July.

In August the OFB said: “With 43% of our sample stations dry, it is the most serious situation we have registered in this period. 

“It passes the historic drought of 2022 with 122 more dry stream beds, and is twice as bad as it was in 2025.”

It said the worst affected areas were on a line between the Vendeé and the north-east, and the south centre of France. The worst affected departments were Creuse, Vendée, Loire-Atlantique, Aveyron,  Côte-d'Or,  Nièvre,  Deux-Sèvres and  Charente-Maritime.

Major rivers also affected

All the country’s major rivers recorded low levels, although the main navigable rivers used by freight barges, the Seine and the Rhine, remained open to river traffic, albeit with some disruption on the latter.

The Loire, often dubbed ‘France’s last wild river,’ because it does not have any dams on it, was so low it was possible to cross it using sand banks and wading, in July, something unusual so early in the year.

Holiday boats on some parts of the Lot river had difficulty at times due to low river levels.

The Garonne, one of France’s major rivers, starts from a source in the high Pyrénées flowing towards the north, before taking a north-west bend at Toulouse and ending in the Gironde estuary.

It provides drinking water to cities such as Toulouse and Agen, and cooling water for the nuclear power plant at Golfech.

A public body, Etablissement Public Garonne, is in charge of monitoring the levels of the river, and started releasing water from EDF hydro-electric dams at the start of July, the earliest release since the body was set up in 1993.

“There was a lot of rain and snow in the winter, but the three heatwaves, one after the other with no significant rain at all in June led to the requirement for an early release,” Nicolas Cardot, the manager of water levels told The Connexion.

“We had one meeting of a special committee to monitor the situation, after which it was decided to put water restrictions on Toulouse and on some use of water for irrigation, and are due to have another meeting at the end of the month.”

Golfech shut its second reactor in a controlled way during the heatwaves because the water temperature in the Garonne was high, and adding extra warm water into the river would harm its local environment. The first reactor was already closed for maintenance. 

The reactors remained shut in mid-July after the end of the heatwave, because it takes water some time to cool down to normal temperatures.

Mr Cardot said he was confident that reserves of water in the hydro-electric dams were sufficient to manage the situation when coupled with restrictions on use, but added: “If we still have not had any rain at all by the end of August, we might be in a more serious situation.”

You can check restrictions on using river water – as well as tap water and well-water – using the government’s VigiEau website. Read our article here for more information.