Multiple European countries including France continue to suffer the worst drought on record amidst huge wildfires and scarcity of rainfalls due to climate change.
More than 100 French towns have no more drinking water and are being delivered with clean drinking water by trucks, told France’s ecological transition minister, Christophe Béchu, while he was on a visit to the southeastern region of the country.
From the well-known Loireto the ever-shrinking Dordogne, French rivers are slowing to a trickle.
“There are already more than a hundred municipalities in France that today have no more drinking water, and for which supplies are being transported by truck to these municipalities because there is nothing left in the pipes,” he said.
Almost all of France is now under some level of water constraints and in many communities tap water has been restricted or even cut off altogether as supplies run dry.
The unusually hot summer has intensified the climate crisis-linked drought which not only dried out many subterranean water supplies but has also drastically affected the country’s rivers.
The drought is causing a loss of agricultural products and other food at a time when supply shortages and Russia’s war against Ukraine have caused inflation to spike.
Wildfires
In addition to the worst drought on record, heavy flames raged through French pine forests overnight, illuminating the sky with intense orange light in the Gironde region, which was already ravaged by flames last month, and in neighboring Landes. More than 68 square kilometers have burned since Tuesday.
The wildfires have already forced the evacuation of about 10,000 French natives and destroyed at least 16 houses.
Scarcity of Rains
The country’s meteorological service, Météo-France, issued a bulletin stating that the country had experienced its driest July on record, with total precipitation about 85 percent below average.