The figure is surprising and worrying: a French person consumes an average of 148 liters of drinking water per day. Drinking represents only 1% of this daily consumption, while washing (39%) or going to the toilet (20%) represent more than half. At the same time, drought episodes affect France more regularly and the groundwater level drops.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition unveiled “VigiEau” last week. The site, available as a mobile application, allows you to quickly see if you are affected by water restrictions, and gives advice on how to reduce your consumption. Here’s how it works.
Daily, a map of the French departments is updated with a color code representing the four levels of alerts: “vigilance”, “alert”, “enhanced alert” and “crisis”. As of July 19, some departments, such as Finistère or Manche, are in gray, indicating that there are no restrictions. But a large part of France is on “vigilance” or “alert”. The first aims to encourage individuals and professionals to save water, the second leads to the reduction of water withdrawals and restrictions on watering, filling and emptying swimming pools. Eure-et-Loir and Vendée are in “crisis” on the majority of their territory.
By entering a specific address or by geolocation, VigiEau tells you whether or not you are in an area subject to restrictions, which “compliance […] is mandatory under penalty of receiving a fine of 1,500 euros. In the event of a “crisis”, as in Challans (Vendée), the watering of green spaces is for example prohibited, as is the filling or emptying of private swimming pools of more than 1 m³.
“Episodes of drought are more and more frequent and start earlier in the year”, warns the government, which has allocated 50 million euros in its 2022 amending finance bill for the resorption of leaks.
