The level of the rivers of Haute-Savoie is "
extremely low for the season
" due to the drought, alerted Monday July 25 the secretary general of the prefecture Thomas Fauconnier, according to whom the situation is "
unprecedented
".
Eight of the department's nine watersheds have been on heightened drought alert since July 19.
The weakness of the water resource is due to “
a history of low rainfall during the fall, further upstream in the year
”, he specifies.
The department is also still placed in heat wave orange vigilance by Météo France on Monday.
Measures to restrict the use of water have already been taken in the department concerning the washing of vehicles, the filling of private swimming pools or the watering of gardens.
Industrial and commercial activities are required to reduce their consumption by half.
The French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) carried out more than 45 days of checks on large consumers (local authorities, golf courses, large companies, farms, etc.), which resulted in several dozen reminders of the regulations and seven legal procedures.
“Several streams are dry”
This did not prevent the situation from “
worsening
” over the summer.
"
I call on all water users, all of us, professionals and individuals, to reflect on their consumption and to find the means to have the most reasoned consumption possible
", pleaded Thomas Fauconnier, during the
a press briefing in Alby-sur-Chéran.
This town of around 2,600 inhabitants, crossed by the Chéran river, has a front row seat: “
We are at the end of July and we are experiencing a situation that we usually see around August 15, but with low water levels that do not are not as severe
”, observes its mayor, Jean-Claude Martin.
The impact is significant for natural environments.
“
Several streams are dry and the trout are on their backs
” in many places, testifies Yohann Tranchant, president of the Joint Interdepartmental Syndicate for the Development of Chéran (Smiac).
Read alsoDrought: half of the territory of the European Union “at risk”
This watershed should soon be placed in a “
crisis
” situation, the maximum level of severity in terms of drought, said the prefecture.
Total bans will then come into force for certain uses of water.
Snowfall last winter in the Northern Alps was the lowest since 1976 and successive heat waves have worsened the situation, according to meteorologists.
A large part of the departments of Isère and Drôme was classified last week at the “
drought crisis
” level.