Le Figaro Nice
After the entire department was placed on drought alert in early March, three watersheds supplying the municipalities of Saint-Paul-de-Vence or Cagnes-sur-Mer in particular went into the "enhanced alert" stage on Friday. Friday.
This third level of alert concerns the three watersheds of Cagne, Estéron and Paillon, which corresponds to around fifty municipalities located mostly in the hinterland.
The rest of the department, including in particular the large cities of Cannes or Nice, remains at the alert stage.
After a year 2022
"marked by exceptional drought"
, the rainfall deficit during the groundwater recharge period between September 2022 and March 2023 had led the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, Bernard Gonzalez, to place the entire department at the stage of drought alert on March 10.
Since then,
"the situation has worsened further: the month of March has a rainfall deficit of 76%"
, explained the prefecture.
“As a result, the flow rates of the rivers and groundwater are abnormally low for the season, causing dry spells to appear about three months earlier than normal.
The snowpack is about 60% less than the average for the department.
, she added in her press release.
Read alsoAlpes-Maritimes: faced with drought, the track of (mega) basins under study in the Mercantour park
Forbidden to water day and night
In all these municipalities concerned by the heightened alert, it is now forbidden to water day and night, to wash your car or your boat.
The filling of private swimming pools is also prohibited, except for the first filling provided that the site has started before the start of the first stages of water restriction.
In addition, industrial users must reduce their consumption by 40%, again reminds the prefecture.
In the south-east of France, an area with a severe rainfall deficit very threatened by fires, certain sectors have even already been placed in a drought “crisis” situation: in the Gard, in the Cèze basin, since Tuesday;
and in Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, in the municipalities of the Huveaune basin and Real de Jouques since the end of March.
As a reminder, there are four levels of drought alert: vigilance, alert, heightened alert and finally crisis.
“Crisis” measures will also come into force on May 10 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, for “the territories of Têt and Agly”, two rivers crossing part of this department bordering Spain.
The content will be specified the day before by a decree, announced Friday the prefect of this department also hit by an exceptional drought.
