The EU’s European Drought Monitor estimated that 45% of the bloc’s territory was under drought warning by mid-July, with 13% already on red alert, prompting the European Commission to warn of a “critical” situation in many areas . Conditions have worsened since recurring heatwaves swept across the continent. In France, the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, last week activated a crisis unit to deal with a drought Météo-France described as the country’s worst since records began in 1958. More than 100 French municipalities have no running drinking water and are supplied by trucks, Green Transition Minister Christophe Béchu said, adding: “We will have to get used to episodes of this type. Adaptation is no longer an option, it is an obligation.” With surface soil moisture the lowest on record and July rainfall 85% below normal, water restrictions, including hosepipes and irrigation bans, are in place in 93 of the country’s 96 mainland departments, with 62 classified as ” in crisis”. Graphic Amid rising food prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, France’s agriculture minister has warned that the corn crop is likely to be more than 18% lower than last year, while farmers’ unions say feed shortages as a result of drought can lead to significant milk shortages in autumn and winter. Power company EDF was last week forced to cut output from one of its nuclear reactors in southwestern France due to high water temperatures in the Garonne River and has issued several similar warnings for reactors along the Rhône. Spain’s water reserves are at an all-time low of 40% and are declining at a rate of 1.5% a week due to a combination of increased consumption and evaporation, according to the government, in what is likely to be the driest in 60 years. The country has received less than half the expected rainfall for the time of year over the past three months, with restrictions from Catalonia in the northeast to Galicia in the northwest as well as western Extremadura and Andalusia in the south. Firefighters at work in the village of A Cañiza in the Galicia region of Spain. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, this is the country’s worst forest fire year in 30 years. Photo: Sxenick/EPA Most water restrictions have been imposed on domestic users, with agricultural authorities often reluctant to curb farmers’ often illegal exploitation of an increasingly scarce resource, despite the fact that agriculture accounts for nine-tenths of Spain’s water consumption. The post-pandemic resurgence in tourism has also seen consumption rise by up to 10% in cities such as Barcelona, where – if there is no rain soon and none is forecast at all – restrictions are likely to be imposed next month. “Climate change studies warn that droughts will be more intense, more frequent and longer,” said Nuria Hernández-Mora, co-founder of New Water Culture. “This will be the new normal, and yet we continue to approve the increased use of a resource that we don’t have and that is becoming increasingly scarce.” This year is also set to be the hottest and driest ever recorded in Italy. “I don’t know what we have to do anymore to make the climate crisis a political issue,” said Luca Mercalli, president of the Italian Meteorological Society. “No similar event in the last 230 years compares to the drought and heat we are experiencing this year. Then we had storms… These episodes are increasing in frequency and intensity, just as predicted by climate reports over the past 30 years. Why are we still waiting to make this a priority?” One of the most visible manifestations of the crisis is the dried up Pa River. The flow rate of Italy’s longest waterway has dropped to a tenth of its usual figure, while its water level is 2 meters below normal. The government declared a drought emergency in five northern regions, with a drinking water bulletin, in early July. The villages around Lake Maggiore are supplied by trucks. With no consistent rainfall in the region since November, production of risotto rice in the Po Valley, which accounts for around 40% of Italy’s agricultural production, is under threat. Growers have warned that up to 60% of the crop could be lost as rice paddies dry out and become salty, with record low water levels allowing more seawater into the delta. A drone photo shows the dry bed of the Po River between Parma and Reggio Emilia, Italy, in mid-July. Photo: Andrea Fasani/EPA The crisis is not limited to southern Europe. Water levels have also dropped to dangerously low levels in the Rhine, a vital northwest European waterway used to transport oil, gasoline, coal and other raw materials that connects Germany’s industrial heartland with the major ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp . The river level on Monday was already lower than at the same point in 2018, when a severe drought finally halted freight for 132 days. Some ships operate at 25% capacity to avoid grounding, increasing transport costs. Drought has hit German waterways as cargo ships are supposed to carry increased amounts of coal to service power plants restarted by Chancellor Olaf Solz in the face of Russia curbing gas supplies. An inland waterway vessel sails on the Rhine as the partially dried riverbed is seen in the foreground in Dusseldorf, western Germany. Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images In the capital, Berlin, authorities recorded a drop in water levels in the many lakes fed by the River Spree. In the southern city of Nuremberg, parched urban trees are watered from municipal indoor pools that are closed to save gas. In Switzerland, the milk industry has been hit hardest: authorities in Friborg, Jura and Neuchâtel were forced to open valley pastures not normally used for grazing until September, as pastures higher in the mountains were already too dry. Dominique de Buman, president of the Friborg cheese cooperative, told Le Temps newspaper that cheese and milk production are likely to be affected. “A decline can be predicted and we may even end up with a shortage of gruyere,” he said. In the canton of Obwalden near Lucerne, the army had to be called in to helicopter water from Lake Sarnen to thirsty cows in the village of Kerns. The Netherlands declared an official water shortage last week. The government has yet to introduce restrictions on household consumption, but has asked people to think carefully about whether to wash their car or fill up a car completely. In neighboring Belgium, meanwhile, forecasters reported the driest July since 1885. Despite a ban on farmers pumping water for crops, groundwater levels in Flanders are extremely low causing peatlands to dry up, raising concerns about wildlife, including woodpeckers. Canals and rivers are also in bad shape: local authorities report that many fish have died as the only water left in some waterways is industrial sewage or sewage. Thirteen communes in the Ardennes have banned people from filling their swimming pools. Climate collapse could soon lead to frequent summer droughts in western Europe, with once-a-decade extreme heat events occurring every two or three years, scientists said, unless governments around the world radically cut emissions coal. Reporting by Stephen Burgen in Barcelona, Angela Giuffrida in Rome, Philip Oltermann in Berlin and Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
