Most French departments on strictest tap water restrictions as drought continues

Drought concerns continue in France as forecasters predict another week without any significant rainfall. 

A high-pressure anticyclone system above France will keep conditions warm, calm, and dry for another week, potentially until the start of October.

It means France is set to face one of its driest Septembers on record, following intense droughts in the summer exacerbated by several heatwaves. 

Restrictions on water usage will therefore remain in place for several more weeks, potentially stretching into winter depending on rainfall.

The last official figures on tap water issues from September 9 saw 64,000 people in France without tap water, supplied instead via bottled water or water tanker deliveries. 

Majority of country on strictest tap water alert 

The lack of rain only further adds to concerns over France’s low water table levels, used for supplying the majority of the country with fresh water.

The latest reports from the start of September saw 61% of these at below-average levels for the season, and it is expected that the next report in October will see a further deterioration in conditions.

There are concerns also in areas where households are primarily served with freshwater from rivers and mountain streams, with up to half of France’s smaller waterways drying up this summer. 

As of September 21, there are 64 departments where at least one commune is facing the strictest level of restrictions, known as crise or crisis level

In these areas, all but essential water usage is banned.

Activities such as watering gardens or plants, cleaning cars and driveways, filling up swimming pools etc are typically banned. 

A further 20 departments have at least one commune on alerte renforcée, the second-highest level of restrictions. These typically allow for some water usage outside of the hottest times of day. 

There are five departments on alerte – the first, and lowest level of restrictions – and just five on vigilance, where no limits are in place but users are urged to be sensible over their tap water consumption. 

The maps below show restrictions at a departmental, and communal, level. 

Restrictions for river and well-water differ, as do limits for households, businesses, and agricultural workers. 

You can find information about restrictions in your commune using the VigiEau website – more information on using the site is available in our article here.  As a reminder, restrictions are often given at communal and not departmental level, meaning they can vary between neighbouring areas. Use the website to check rules in your commune.

A further 12 departments not facing crise alerts for tap water usage are seeing such restrictions for river or well-water, bringing the total number of departments on the highest drought alert to 76.