As of May 1, 65% of the city’s groundwater is above normal, with 21% whose levels are even very high. On the other hand, 22% is below normal, including 4% at very low levels, in Roussillon, but also in certain parts of Corsica, BRGM states in its monthly newsletter.
There is a “slight improvement over last month despite the renewal of vegetation” which absorbs some of the rainfall. As of April 1, 58% of groundwater was above normal and 27% below.
It’s also much better than last year at the same time, when the situation was “very concerning” with 68% of groundwater below normal.
“The situation has completely reversed due to very excessive recharge,” especially during the March/April period when there was a lot of rain, Violaine Bault, a hydrogeologist at BRGM, noted during a telephone briefing.
The month of April was very mixed in France, with certainly a cold episode at the end of the month, but overall temperatures are still above normal for the 27th consecutive month. In terms of rain, France is also cut in two, with a surplus of rain still in the northern half and central east, while the southwest, the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur region and Corsica are in deficit.
In May, rain continued to fall in parts of France, allowing for the continuation of fairly favorable winter trends.
Forecasts for the summer are therefore “fairly optimistic” if we consider the whole of France, although tensions at the end of the period cannot be ruled out, BRGM predicts.
Despite everything, some parts of the metropolis must prepare for a new summer of drought and water restrictions. This is the case of the Pyrénées-Orientals, which suffered two years of intense drought, which illustrates the projections of climatologists on the reduction of precipitation in the Mediterranean basin and the increase of evaporation due to global warming of human origin.
The government announced on Tuesday that it will release ten million euros to finance seven projects in this department, which will particularly intensify the reuse of waste water and thus try to partially compensate for the water shortage.