Drought this summer 2023: the departments spared

While fires are already raging in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the first forecasts published by the Geological and Mining Research Bureau (BRGM) do not bode well for the approach of summer 2023. These suggest that the period summer in France will be worse than the year 2022 and that it will affect almost the entire territory. The other bad news is that some departments are already seeing their groundwater stocks reduced and therefore subject to restrictions, and this, in the middle of April. Worry therefore becomes more and more important.

In March, no less than 75% of the country’s water tables were below normal, as announced by the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM). The rains of the previous month, almost non-existent, will not have made up for the lack of water. Despite everything, this is a slight step forward compared to the month of February during which 80% of the water tables showed a level below normal.

BRGM experts point to the lack of precipitation across the country since the fall of 2022. In the middle of winter, France even experienced 32 days without rain, putting a stop to groundwater recharge. groundwater. Most French regions are bearing the full brunt of this lack of water. Much of the soil is very dry and most of the rain is absorbed by the vegetation, which limits its infiltration into the soil.

The direct consequences of this sharp drop in rainfall will affect a drought that promises to be record high for this summer of 2023. Some areas are already mentioned as being at risk, as shown by the map published by the Geological and Mining Research Bureau.

In comparison with the map of the previous year (published at the beginning of May 2022), that of this year 2023 is much bloodier. Red predominates in the Paris basin, the center of France as well as the Saône and Rhône basins. These areas are heavily impacted by above average water consumption and in which groundwater tables are almost non-existent. Some territories are not yet associated with a particular color because of great uncertainties about them: “No aquifer presents a very low risk of drought” informs the BRGM.

Find out now which departments are projected to be spared from the risk of drought on high-stakes aquifers and if yours is one of them.