Tap water restrictions or usage warnings are now in place across 79 French departments, as the impact of the historic May and June heatwaves begin to take effect.
Eleven departments – mostly in central and central-west France – now have at least one commune facing restrictions of the highest crise level, which ban all but essential water usage.
Elsewhere, 17 departments are on the second most-severe warning level (alerte renforcée) with a further 18 on alerte level warnings.
A total of 580 communes or areas have some restriction on tap water usage in place as of midday, although this number continues to rise.
Affected communes in these departments see varying restrictions including bans on filling swimming pools, cleaning cars, or watering gardens at certain times of the day.
Many other departments across France have seen vigilance appeals. These do not come with restrictions but warn of impending water shortages and ask residents to be careful with water consumption.
All mainland regions are now facing restrictions or warnings over impending restrictions, although the south-west and Hauts-de-France are the least-impacted area so far.
This is despite both regions seeing record temperatures during the June heatwave.
As a reminder, restrictions are not department wide but limited to certain communes or water basin areas.
Restrictions also differ based on the water source (tap, water, well) and reason for usage (household, business, farming, local authority).
The official VigiEau website provides an up-to-date map of current restrictions, and you can enter your address to find out exact rules in your commune.
The website allows you to filter information based on water type as well as reason for use.
More information is available in our article here.
