Historic drought pushes Garonne River into crisis, triggers unprecedented water restrictions
The Garonne between the Pyrenees and Toulouse has entered a crisis due to an unusually hot and dry summer, leading to record water-use limits for 136 municipalities.
The Haute-Garonne prefecture announced that the Garonne River is in a "crisis" between the Pyrenees and Toulouse, driven by an unprecedented combination of extreme heat and scant precipitation. Baptiste Mandard, the prefecture's secretary-general, noted that no segment of the river has ever required a crisis status before. Water-use restrictions have been dramatically expanded, now affecting 136 communes, especially those west of the Toulouse urban area.
The river has reached level 4, the top tier of its alert system, after a severe rainfall deficit that began in June. September has seen only about eight millimetres of rain, with forecasts showing no significant precipitation before the end of the month, causing water reserves to dwindle. Consequently, releases from Pyrenean reservoir dams have ceased, prompting Jean-Michel Fabre, head of the public water-management body for the Garonne, to call for urgent public action to avoid severe shortages.
Why it matters
The crisis highlights the immediate impact of climate extremes on water supplies for thousands of residents in southwestern France.
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