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CLIMATE CRISIS

How France plans to minimise future droughts

The 2022 drought is already the worst in 60 years, but these exceptional events are predicted to become more common, so France is considering long-term solutions to deal with punishingly dry periods.

Published: 16 August 2022 12:44 CEST
How France plans to minimise future droughts
(Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP)

Recent headlines in drought-ridden France have made for sobering news: “More than 100 French villages without tap water in ‘unprecedented’ drought”; “‘Water will run out in 25 days’ – Corsica imposes strict new drought restrictions”; “French drought intensifies as River Loire dries up”.

The list goes on.

Environment Minister Christophe Béchu said France has experienced its driest month of July “since 1959”, while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne activated an interministerial crisis unit to coordinate the resources of the State in the face of the “exceptional drought”.

READ ALSO Ask the expert: Why is France’s drought so bad and what will happen next?

The lack of water is affecting agriculture, food production, France’s famous wine industry, and is stoking tensions between residents and visitors in popular tourist areas.

A senior researcher at the European Drought Observatory told AP on Friday that the current drought affecting large parts of Europe could be worse than the previous one in 2018 – which was so bad that there had been no similar events in the previous 500 years.

And latest weather predictions suggest that drought conditions will continue for up to three months and the ongoing climate crisis means that ‘exceptional’ events such as the 2022 are set to become more regular.

While water restrictions have already been imposed on local authorities to combat the risk of water shortages, are there any long-term plans for protecting France’s water resources?

Companies are looking at ways of concentrating their water use, including by reusing water multiple times where possible, while measures such as trickle irrigation could help reduce water loss in agriculture.

Agroecology, which has been developed over the last few years, is also leading adapted practices on better soil conservation, which could allow water to be better retained.

“We need to accelerate the implementation of these innovative techniques and work on training personnel in the field,” hydrogeologist Marie Pettenati told Franceinfo.

Drinking wastewater

It’s possible. For the past 50 years or so, Namibia has produced a percentage of its drinking water by treating waste water. But it’s not necessarily the first step.

READ ALSO ANALYSIS: Is water likely to be rationed as France’s drought worsens?

A group of farmers in Clermont-Ferrand use water that has passed through the city’s wastewater treatment plant for several years. But schemes like this are highly local and very rare – only a handful exist across the country.

A decree has existed in France allowing the use of treated wastewater for agricultural purposes since 2010, but – with the Clermont-Ferrand exception – is rarely used. The rules and the tools exist. All that remains is to use them.

Groundwater

In total, 62 percent of France’s drinking water is taken from groundwater, according to a Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières study. 

Pettenati said: “We also need to think more deeply about water storage in the ground, which would make it possible to retain resources and make them available for future use. 

“This would mean storing very large volumes of water at times when it is most available (in winter, for example, during periods of heavy rainfall) to be reused later, when it is most needed.”

Treated wastewater could also be stored underground for agricultural use, according to some suggestions.

“Groundwater is an invisible resource. We have trouble understanding how to preserve it, but it is essential,” Pettenati said.

Water reservoirs – often used by farmers – lead to significant losses to evaporation during periods of high temperatures, and risk contamination. 

Moreover, the basins hold a large volume of water in a very localised area, which can have consequences on river levels and impact on wildfire in wetland areas.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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