PARIS: France is experiencing a “very worrying” drought that has spurred a record number of water restrictions for the time of year, the ecology minister said on Wednesday.
Swathes of the country are under water-use controls, with the number of local restrictions in place “the highest number recorded since at least 2013,” French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told a crisis meeting at the ministry.
“We are experiencing a drought situation that is exceptional in how early it is” — “almost a month earlier” than usual — and “in its intensity,” Barbut said.
“What makes the situation very worrying is that it is occurring despite spring rainfall having been broadly within the normal range,” she said.
Climate change is causing “a profound disruption to the water cycle,” she added.
