Can you refill a pool during water restrictions and do French authorities run checks?

Reader question: When water restrictions prohibit filling swimming pools, are you still allowed to top up a pool to replace water lost through evaporation? How would authorities know if a pool has been topped up?

Water restrictions are already in place across parts of France, with communes in the Pyrénées-Orientales and Loiret departments already classed as being at a crisis level.

Drought restrictions start at a yellow ‘vigilance’ level, followed by three ‘alert’ levels, at orange (alert), red (reinforced alert) and black (crisis).

It is often prohibited to fill your pool once the basic ‘alert’ level is reached, except for the first filling. In that case, for health and safety reasons, filling the pool may be allowed until the highest alert levels are reached.

Such restrictions are usually enforced locally via prefectural and communal orders, so to find out what is and isn’t allowed in your area, you would need to check the relevant local regulations at the VigiEau website.

This will show the restrictions that apply locally and link to the relevant decrees. You can then search within the document for keywords such as remplissage [filling], piscine or mise à niveau [topping up] to find the exact rules, as these texts can be long.

If restrictions are in place, you may be banned from filling your pool, even if you have not yet done so for the summer. Additionally, this will generally apply to most methods of filling a pool, whether by mains water or by bringing water in via a tanker from a commune that is not affected by drought.

However, some restrictions concern only filling the pool and not necessarily topping it up. Often, topping up is allowed under reinforced alert or crisis levels are reached.

This varies by commune, and you would need to check whether this applies in your area.

If a ban is in place authorities may find out through inspections carried out by France’s ‘environmental police’ from the OFB (Office français de la biodiversité).

These officers may carry out patrols or can also act on reports.

They may look for signs of water use and make enquiries with neighbours.

However, while fines do exist, authorities are often more likely to issue warnings explaining the regulations. Of course, this varies depending on the situation. Fines can reach up to €1,500, rising to €3,000 for repeat offenders.

In practice, enforcement can be difficult, as the rules vary by commune and by level of restriction, and it is not always straightforward for authorities to prove whether a pool has been filled or merely topped up due to evaporation or maintenance.