Recalling that the current drought is "the most acute since 1959"

"Crisis" measures, including new water restrictions, will come into force on May 10 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, a department affected by an exceptional drought, and the content will be specified the day before by a decree, announced the prefect , Friday, April 28

Recalling that the current drought is "the most acute since 1959"

"Crisis" measures, including new water restrictions, will come into force on May 10 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, a department affected by an exceptional drought, and the content will be specified the day before by a decree, announced the prefect , Friday, April 28. This "crisis alert level", the highest, will concern "the territories of Têt and Agly", two rivers crossing part of this department bordering Spain, he added, at the the day after a meeting of the local water resource committee.

"I don't want to be in a position that affects the production tool, which harms the trees", underlined the prefect, Rodrigue Furcy, about agriculture, without announcing whether exemptions to the ban on irrigate were planned, especially for fruit trees. There will be "additional restrictions" for certain sectors or activities: golf courses, car washes, sales of above-ground pools or boreholes, he said.

Recalling that the current drought is "the most acute since 1959", the prefect expressed his desire to "avoid conflicts of use, conflicts of the water war" and to "manage the crisis of as peacefully as possible." “We have reached a period where there is no more snow and where the vegetation absorbs a lot of water. The amount of water you have is what you have to manage until the end of the summer,” he warned.

On Thursday, the president of the Departmental Federation of Farmers' Unions (FDSEA), Bruno Vila, had estimated the damage to farmers as a result of the current restrictions at 200 million euros, adding that "in the worst case scenario, this going to be 400 million".

"This department is living in anticipation of what some of the departments around the Mediterranean are likely to experience," noted the Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, before the Hydrological Anticipation and Monitoring Committee, which brought together Thursday in Perpignan the stakeholders in water management at the national level.

On Monday, Hermeline Malherbe, socialist president of the Pyrénées-Orientales - where the first big fire of the year in France covered around 1,000 hectares on April 17 - had arrested the head of state, Emmanuel Macron, on a risk of "human catastrophe", calling for "the establishment of a solidarity fund" for the agricultural and tourist sectors. Carole Delga, socialist president of Occitania, supported this request on Tuesday, announcing "an exceptional device of 1 million euros" from the region.

Date Of Update: 01 February 2024, 12:55