France groundwater drought aquifer levels, Digi Mart USA News (France): Record summer heat has left France’s groundwater in a “very worrying” condition, according to the Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières (BRGM) in its monthly bulletin for October. The agency said the situation remains largely degraded everywhere except the south and southeast.
As of November 1, 64% of groundwater observation points were below normal levels, compared with 66% a month earlier. The BRGM expressed concern about levels recorded in many areas where recharge would normally be starting at this time of year.
Although October was described as “in line with normal” for rainfall by Météo-France, the recharge of aquifers began at only 27% of observation points, while 55% continued to decline. The BRGM noted that the situation is considerably worse than a year earlier, when 32% of points were below normal.
At the end of October, groundwater levels, which are France’s main drinking water reserves, were described as “very low” in several regions, including the Breton basement, Limousin, the Champagne chalk, the Jura limestone, the Vosges sandstone and the Lorraine Triassic limestone.
Late in October, several local officials and prefectures in Brittany, which has experienced one of the worst droughts in its history since this summer, raised the alarm over a situation described as “increasingly critical.” Brest mayor Stéphane Roudaut said the city was “on the verge of a water shortage.”
The BRGM cautioned that forecasts for the coming weeks or months remain highly uncertain. Any improvement in groundwater levels will depend on the return of precipitation, which could arrive in November, although there are uncertainties about the distribution and effectiveness of that rain and therefore about recharge levels this autumn and winter.
